As it looks like the red shirt protest in Bangkok is coming to end thanks to a strong military crack down this weekend I thought it would be interesting to hear from people how the protests have affected them.
Me personally I have not really been affected that much at all. I have had a few close encounters with armed police and military that I probably would not have done otherwise but apart from that it has been business as usual.
A few times taxis have been hard to find that are willing to go into certain areas but overall it has been ok.
How have you been affected during the past few months of protestation?
As the red shirt protests drew on and the military got involved it soon became clear the army were using live rounds to persuade the protesters to go home. But up until now it hadn’t really been reported that the army were firing live bullets with most reports claiming they were firing rubber bullets. Well, since the increased crack down this weekend the army have setup a few ‘live fire zones’ where I presume they will be firing live rounds at will. It’s a shame to see this happening but at least they are warning people what they are doing and therefore giving them a chance to avoid the area or get out now.
A lot of non-Thai people I have spoken to about the protests can’t understand why the army haven’t gone in like this sooner in a bid to flush the protesters out. With the sudden increase in casualties and fatalities I think we can all see now why the army were reluctant to storm in. Besides, apart from to the mall owners, what harm were the red shirts really doing?
Coming from a country like the UK were public protests are very much restricted if allowed at all it can be hard to understand why this one has been allowed to go on so long but I find it quite refreshing that in parts of the world people are still allowed the freedom to protest. Its just a shame this one had to turn so ugly after a long time of minimal violence. Lets just hope this hasn’t ruined it for future generations and the government doesn’t bring in draconian measures to prevent large gatherings of people.
Tomorrow is supposed to be the big day when the pro-Thaksin red shirts descend on Bangkok to protest.
Rumours are flying around from the believable (50,000 will arrive) to the slightly more wild (snipers and looting at Central World). I’ll probably be staying in and watching it on TV if they haven’t shut down all the local TV stations as reported by some newspapers.
Just spied a group of red shirts down by Silom on my way home just now. I seem to recall reading they are protesting at the branch of Bangkok Bank down there.
The road was cordoned off and there were a few police there on motorcycles so I couldn’t get close enough to see how many of them there were.
