CLIFFORD COONAN, in Bangkok, talks to red-shirted activists on the streets about their desire for elections
BANGKOK REMAINED tense yesterday after 21 people died in bloody clashes at the weekend in the Thai capital, and red-shirted opposition protesters vowed to continue their fight for early elections.
Rumours of a possible military coup, or of martial law, swirled through the city of 15 million people. Thailand has managed to thrive with a high level of instability in recent years, but the weekend’s violence was the worst in 18 years, transforming the city’s historic old quarter and other tourist areas into a war zone.
The government declared a state of emergency on April 7th after red shirts broke into the grounds of parliament, forcing some parliamentarians to flee by helicopter.
While the military and the protesters have both pulled back, there are no signs of an easy solution to the political row. Increasingly this looks like a civil war in the making – hundreds of protesters also forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a larger uprising against prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his 16-month-old military-backed government.
The red shirts are mostly rural and working-class, and many of them are supporters of exiled prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006. They want Abhisit to dissolve parliament and leave the country, which has seen 18 coups since 1932. What is significant about the current unrest is that it appears to be about more than Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon who fled into exile in 2008 to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Most of the red shirts say they are not Thaksin supporters, but do want early elections. The protesters have ruled out more negotiations with the government.
In Lumpini Park in downtown Bangkok, there were tents with food and water for the red shirts, and their leaders made speeches.
“This is not about Thaksin. It’s up to us. We want democracy. And we have lots of support. Look around, all these people here,” said Chalaporn Singakaewsub, a taxi driver from Bangkok who was sitting on the grass with his seven-year-old son.
Thanin Boonlong, who runs a construction company in Pattaya, said he was not pro-Thaksin, but had signed up for the red shirts because he felt he owed it to the next generation.
“There could be anarchy. We only wanted to choose our leader, and they answer with machine guns, grenades and snipers. This is the greatest country in the world, we just want to choose our leader,” said Thanin. “We cannot compete here in Thailand if it does not change. We just want democracy like in Europe.
“Thaksin is over, he’s just one example of the unfairness. Thaksin is just an indicator of the double-standards. This is a big change, there are millions of people taking part,” he said.
On Saturday, troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok’s old quarter, a base for the month-old protest.
More than 800 people were injured. Four soldiers were among those killed.
The protesters were trying to get the bodies back from the security forces, and said they were planning some very public funeral services for those killed.
A Reuters cameraman was shot dead during the riots.
The overground Skytrain, which was shut due to Saturday’s violence, reopened with a restricted service yesterday, although stations in the plush central shopping district, which has been occupied for over a week by the red-shirt protesters, remained closed.
The protesters say Abhisit does not have a popular mandate after coming to power by way of a parliamentary vote in 2008 following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party.
Thaksin’s allies would be well-placed to win fresh elections.