Situation in Bangkok

The protest is officially over, I'm officially back in Bangkok after an exceedingly uncomfortable bus ride (our uber-comfy 1st class train got cancelled - jerks), so I'm officially tired.

I was going to post a long explanation of the current political situation, but then I discovered Bangkok Post had a handy short article detailing the events, which I'll post below (copy+paste because sometimes that website takes forever to load)

Actually, now that I've started writing, I might as well finish my long political discussion. Might be edited in the morning when I'm more conscious.

For those who don't know, Thaksin is a former prime minister of Thailand who was ousted by military coup in 2006, has been in self-imposed exile because he was convicted in his absence for breaking a conflict of interest law and faces extradition.

Thaksin is a complicated character; from my understanding, his government was fairly corrupt, he was the head of a huge telecom company and exploited his political power for his company's gain, and was at the least unethical in some dealings if not illegal (not sure laws in Thailand nor exactly what he did), was accused of vote buying...now that I'm clicking through Bangkok Post links, seems like there's a whole lot more he and his government were at least suspected of doing. Also, according to wikipedia, Amnesty International has criticized his human rights record. On the other hand, his government spearheaded significant rural development, hence his huge support base amongst the rural poor, and waged a war on drugs (though the method of this was probably what Amnesty International was condemning).

In general, the political opinion of Thaksin is incredibly divided. People either love him or hate his guts - the former mainly being in the rural areas of Thailand, the latter being those in Bangkok. The UDD, United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, are the red shirts, Thaksin's supporters, and the ones protesting this past week. The opinion seems to be that Thaksin or supporters financied many of these protestors getting to Bangkok, since they are mainly from northeastern Thailand. Interestingly, the other side, the yellow shirts who occupied the airport last fall, call themselves the People's Alliance for Democracy, and allege that while Thaksin's party wins on votes in a general election, vote buying is too rampant for it to be a real election.

Anyway, here's the timeline of the most recent events:

March 26: Thousands of Thaksin supporters in trademark red shirts begin rallying in Bangkok, calling on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his government to resign and allow fresh elections.

They are spurred on by Thaksin Shinawatra, who starts a series of almost nightly addresses to the crowd by telephone and video link.

March 27: Thaksin accuses Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda, privy councillors Surayud Chulanond and Charnchai Likitjitta of being behind the 2006 military coup that toppled him.

March 28: Gen Surayud rejects Thaksin's claim, saying privy councillors are not involved in politics.

April 2: Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan says a mass rally planned for April 8 is aimed at pressuring Mr Abhisit, Gen Prem and the privy councillors to resign.

April 3: Thaksin refuses an invitation by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to negotiate with the government, and calls on his supporters to come out in force for a mass rally on April 8.

April 7: Mr Abhisit's car is attacked by red-shirts in Pattaya as he heads back to Bangkok after a cabinet meeting. Thaksin's three children and ex-wife leave Thailand.

April 8: More than 30,000 red-shirts rally at Government House, their main protest site.

April 9: Taxi drivers block main roads and Victory Monument, bringing the city to a halt. Mr Abhisit vows tough action against red-shirts who break the law, but no action is taken.

April 10: Thaksin's supporters, already spread out across Bangkok, launch a separate protest in the beach resort of Pattaya, where 16 Asian leaders are to meet for a major Asean-sponsored summit, with Asean chairman Thailand as the host.

April 11: Thousands of protesters storm the venue of the summit, forcing its cancellation. A state of emergency is declared as foreign leaders are evacuated - some by helicopter from the hotel roof.

April 12: A state of emergency is declared in Bangkok and surrounding areas as new anti-government demonstrations spring up. Pattaya protest leader Arisman Pongruangrong arrested in Bangkok. About 50 protesters force their way into the Interior Ministry grounds while Mr Abhisit is inside. He escapes. Thaksin says he will lead an uprising if there is a coup.

April 13: Army cracks down on protesters in Bangkok. Two people die and 123 treated for injuries in army assaults on groups of protesters and several ugly confrontations between red shirts and local people who formed neighbourhood militias.

April 14: Thousands of demonstrators who had retreated to their main camp outside Government House agree to disperse in the face of an overwhelming military operation to close down days of protests.

Government extends the three-day Songkran holiday for two more days.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/politics/140563/red-shirt-revolution

A more coherent and/or edited post may follow in the morning.