Under the Surface Bangkok Begins to Boil

Well it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post and the Reds remain in Bangkok. In general it's been quiet since the "bloodshed" but things seemed to have picked up as we move close to Songkran Break (Thai New Years). Songkran will mark the 1 year anniversary of the Red riots that saw burnt out busses, bombs and riot police in the streets of BKK last year. Will there be a repeat? I'm beginning to wonder.

The government and Prime Minister have been trying to make themselves look holy and understanding by not bothering the Reds that much as they protest in the streets. I think Abihist and his cronies don't want to the shown up by the Reds who have vowed they are fighting a non-violent revolution. This is all starting to change. This past weekend The Reds decided to move down to the main shopping and business district in BKK and pretty much shut it down. Upsetting the consumer mania of upper class Thais is a definite no-no so all of a sudden the Prime Minister is whipping out his handy little Internal Security Act and banning The Reds for pretty much any place in BKK that they could disrupt anyone...which of course is the point of a protest is it not?
His threat, if you step foot in one of the banned areas with your red shirt on you will be tossed in jail for 1 year or have to pay 20,000 baht (keep in mind that most of these protesters are rural Thais who make 6000 or so a month).
Really it's so typical. "Oh little Red Shirts, you can do whatever you like as long as you don't get in the way of snobby rich Thais who think shopping is more important than democracy...but the minute you baracade the Louis Vuitton shop...well then, THAT is unacceptable!"
So today they pretty much told Abihist to shove it up his snobby, rich, delusional ass and they stormed their way into the government buildings and got in a scuffle with the riot police, then they herded down to Silom (a "banned" area GASP!!). It's about time The Reds got a bit of a backbone and started shaking shit up. As I've said before, a polite revolution usually isn't the way to victory.

But what this does mean is that things are heating up and people are getting pissed on both sides. With the psychological weight of the one year anniversary of Red Violence in BKK looming this may boil over. I'm happy that I'm flying out of here on Sat morning for two weeks. I will probably miss the boiling kettle and will only have to deal with the mopping up afterwards.

Cheers from the brewing violence

J