The Bangkok Post today says:
The People’s Alliance for Democracy yesterday backed away from its threat to stage a major Bangkok rally against the charter rewrite in a move hailed by the government as a breakthrough in easing political tensions.
However, after a meeting of about 2,000 rowdy PAD supporters at Lumpini Park Hall, the group’s leaders said shelving the mass rally was dependent on two conditions. First, the constitution rewrite should not reduce the power of the King or change the structure of the monarchy, and second, it should not open the way for an amnesty for fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his “cronies”.
The Nation, meanwhile, reports:
The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) will set up a committee to campaign for national reform instead of holding mass rallies to counter the Pheu Thai-led government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to PAD spokesman Panthep Pourpongpan.
Panthep said the group would launch protests if the government changes Article 112 of the Penal Code, amends the charter or any laws to waive penalties on Thaksin Shinawatra and his group, and when the time is right.
And:
It was the first mass rally of the anti-Thaksin PAD, known as the yellow shirts, since Thaksin’s sister Yingluck became the prime minister. More than 3,000 people joined the rally, which lasted from 10am until late evening.
(All emphasis mine.)
(Image: The Nation.)
Red shirt “mobile rallies.” Remember those?
Well, today the yellow shirts, also known as the People Alliance for Democracy (PAD), took to the streets.
Here are a few cell phone snaps of what appeared to be the latter stages of a rally that began at the UNESCO Bangkok office and made its way down Sukhumvit Road.
I took these images in the Asoke area around mid-day.
As I tweeted, the demonstrators carried “Vote No” signs, encouraging people not to vote for anyone, since the yellows are unhappy with politicians — all of them.
There were also placards saying the Preah Vihear temple — that’s the UNESCO connection — had been “stolen by Cambodia.”
From The Economist:
Thailand’s nationalist protesters: Yellow badge of courage:
YELLOW polo shirts? Check. Plastic hand clappers? Check. Nationalist banners? Check. And so the supporters of the right-wing People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) once again took to the streets of Bangkok on Tuesday, ready to stand up to a treacherous government. In the past, the PAD staged marathon protests against the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, and his allies. They claim credit for toppling two elected governments in 2006 and 2008, though on both occasions the army or the courts delivered the coup de grâce.
This time their fire is directed at the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is accused of betraying the nation along its border with Cambodia…
(Image: Economist, via Wikimedia Commons.)
Yesterday’s red shirt protest here in Bangkok attracted some 30,000 demonstrators. Despite concerns about the potential for violence, the rally was peaceful. CNN.com has details here.
Meanwhile, on the Thailand-Cambodia border, yellow shirt demonstrators fought with local residents near the Preah Vihear temple. Here’s a BBC News report with video of the clashes.
I spent a few hours at the red shirt rally and will be writing more about that soon.
A story in the current Economist sums up the political landscape in Thailand.
Discussed here are PM Abhisit, the red shirts, the yellow shirts (and the PAD’s new political party), and the insurgency in Thailand’s south. Worth a read.
I'm Newley Purnell, an American journalist in Bangkok. I report for Bloomberg BNA, ABC News Radio, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and more.
