Monday, January 10, 2011

Red Tide Rising Again

Yesterday, the centre of Bangkok came to a standstill because of a new rally by the UDD (The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship).

Over 30000 people turned up at two rallies which later converged at Rachaphrasong Intersection, the site were 92 demonstrators were shot dead last year. What marks this rally out from the rest of the rallies is that the Reds were very well organised and did exactly what they needed to do without incurring the raith of the authorities.

This has really paniced the Thai Government who had secretly hoped that the Red and even the Yellow shirt movements had burnt themselves out. Certainly the Yellow shirts seem to be on the wain and if an upcoming rally by them doesn't have large numbers then their influence in the political arena will be very much lessened.

The rally was also addressed by former Thai PM, Thaksin Shinawatra. He is the de facto leader of the Reds despite having to live abroad because he is wanted on several corruption charges.

My only concern is that the political troubles don't kick off again, we want to really go back to Thailand this year, but if there is going to be street troubles then I'm not putting my family's safety at risk.

No comments: