Blood on the Bricks in Bangkok

The "Red Shirts" have followed through on the promise to pour the blood of the people on the Government steps. This news is shocking by western standards and quite brutal to watch. I was quite shocked to see that they followed through with it. Watching it was quite the experience as thousands showed up to donate blood and have it poured out of water jugs onto the steps of government buildings. I must admit that no political party back in the USA would ever have the guts to pull off such a move. I admire their ambition even if I don't fully understand the motives. The full story is below. I must warn you that some of the images are a bit graphic, but demonstrate accurately the scene here in Thailand.

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Protesters spilled their own blood at the gates of Thailand's government headquarters Tuesday in a colourful act of political theatre designed to propel their fugitive hero back to power.

Thousands of "Red Shirts" loyal to deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra queued up during the day to donate blood in makeshift tents, where it was poured from syringes into five-litre water bottles for the bizarre spectacle.

Red leaders said they had collected 300 litres (530 pints) of blood, far short of their aim of 1,000 litres, most of which they poured at the Government House gates in the late afternoon to press their demand for snap elections.

They later took some of the blood to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat party offices for a second protest, where a Hindu priest began the symbolic spilling by invoking a curse against the government.

The demonstrators said they would march to Abhisit's residence in central Bangkok on Wednesday morning as they step up their campaign, though the premier will not be there.

The bloody show was the latest part of a pro-Thaksin demonstration which has drawn up to 100,000 protesters to the streets of Bangkok since the weekend, according to police, watched over by 50,000 security forces personnel.

The Hindu priest, wearing a traditional white outfit and with bare feet, knelt down in the blood to wipe his hands in it, before raising them aloft. Others then joined in, creating pools of blood at the steps of the offices.

"This blood is to show our commitment in calling for democracy. This is an important curse ritual," said Red leader Nattawut Saikur.

The Red Shirts, whose numbers appeared to be dwindling on Wednesday, held the blood bottles in the air triumphantly as they rode on trucks followed by thousands of supporters and monitored by riot police.

They are protesting against the perceived elitism and illegitimacy of the Abhisit government, which came to power via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling ousted Thaksin's allies.

Last month another court decision confiscated 1.4 billion dollars from Thaksin, whose followers are largely from the poor rural north and fervently support the populist policies he introduced before being ousted in a 2006 coup.

They began their blood drive on Tuesday morning despite hygiene concerns raised by health officials. Organisers insisted only qualified medics were collecting donations, using one needle per person.

"It doesn't hurt. I'll do any activity the leaders say, I'm willing to participate because I want a democracy," said Somsak Janprasert, 63, a retired railway official from Bangkok.

"This is a very symbolic way to express that our blood, the people's blood, is power," he said.

On Monday the Red Shirts spent several hours massed outside an army barracks on the northern outskirts of Bangkok where Abhisit and his government were holed up amid fears of violence by saboteurs.

The premier rejected the crowd's demands to dissolve parliament and call elections, and on Tuesday he again stood firm against their calls.

"A decision cannot be made between protesters and the government, because it is related to the whole country," he said on television from the barracks.

A joint session of both houses of parliament was postponed on Tuesday due to the lack of a quorum, with some lawmakers fearing for their safety in the ongoing demonstrations, parliamentary officials said.

At a separate army barracks across the city, four grenades exploded on Monday, wounding two soldiers and raising tensions. It was not clear if the attacks were linked to the Red Shirts, whose leaders denied involvement.

Since the coup that ousted Thaksin, Thailand has been rocked by protests from both supporters and opponents of the former premier, who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption.

Thaksin, who was spotted over the weekend in Montenegro, made an impassioned plea to supporters by a video link to Bangkok on Monday evening for the third consecutive night, urging them to fight on.

First "Red Shirt" Outbreak Video

This video marks the first documented outbreak of violence in the growing anti govt rally here in Thailand. I'm not sure what the guy did to anger the "red shirt" in the back of the P.A. truck, but he got a piece of his megaphone in a very "non verbal" way. More noticeable is the amount of police and military presence and a near instantaneous response time. The many cameras running about is also interesting and hopefully will continue to keep people on their best behavior.

Thailand Prepares for the Worst

My movements have become slightly restricted for the next few days as the civil unrest here in Thailand comes to a boiling point. The whole thing could become a "much ado about nothing", but better safe than sorry. The government opposition party (the "Red Shirts") have a big demonstration planned for the weekend, and the authorities have started implementing "special security precautions". Current predictions state that the demonstration could be over 1 million people strong. I could write a book on the who, where, and why of the situation, but the simple fact of the matter is that there is a certain amount of tension in the air. Bomb warnings have been issued for banks throughout the country, and airport delays/closures have been predicted. The government has deployed an additional 20,000 police officers and 30,000 military troops in the capitol. The next 36 hours will tell whether things will stay peaceful or not.

An End of an Era

This will probably be my last blog post for a while as I prepare to slip under the radar here. Things have gotten a bit spooky as far as finances and business goes. I wont even mention the immigration issue as it gets even spookier. I want to wish a big thanks to all my readers and friends for following my life here in southeast Asia so far, and I hope to continue blogging at some point in the future. For the time being, maintaining a constant internet connection is no longer cost effective and the time has come to fly low and try to make it to the next stopping point wherever that may be. Returning to the states is no longer an option, and it seems that my bridges have been burned when it comes to my old life in the west. I am thankful for all the new friends and family that I have met here, but I will have to make the next leg of this journey on my own. I'm not sure exactly where that will take me, but my days here are numbered. I've already received more kindness and generosity here than I ever thought possible, but the time has come to "keep my head down" and figure out what to do next. I've made my share of mistakes here, but also had some amazing experiences as well. I would not trade a single minute for anything else. I hope that the next step will offer the same. I wish everyone well, and I hope to continue this story on the flipside of wherever it takes me.

Best of luck to all,

Matt

6,000 guns and explosives stolen from barracks

Just when I thought things might be getting a bit boring around here, something like this pops up. The local civil unrest just got a little more lively!! Yes, that's 6,000 full auto assault rifles and an undisclosed amount of explosives unaccounted for. In a country where personal ownership of firearms is nearly unheard of unless you are in law enforcement, that's a very staggering total. Needless to say, the current "civil" uprising may not be civil for long. Several foreign governments issued travel warnings for this area a few weeks ago, and we all dismissed it as media hype. Maybe they knew something we didn't. People here can be a little hot headed when it comes to politics, and adding a few thousand AK-47's into the mix should make things interesting. The latest bank bombing in Bangkok was only about a week ago, but there were no injuries. This could make things a little more up close and personal. If the "red shirts" do in fact have them, I'll be glad to be deep in friendly territory. If the insurgents down south have them, I'll be staying as far north as I can. The full story is below.

BANGKOK: -- Acting Thai government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn confirmed on Sunday that an urgent investigation was being conducted into “a massive loss of weapons and explosives” from an army base in the southern province of Phattalung.

According to Mr Panitan, a police report was filed last Thursday and investigators are attempting to determine whether the weapons have fallen into the hands of insurgents in the south, or the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), aka the red-shirts, who plan to hold its million man march and rally commencing this Friday, March 12, in an attempt to oust the government.

Informed sources claim about 6,000 assault rifles and a large amount of explosives were taken from Engineering Regiment 401, part of the Fourth Army Region, in Phatthalung Province, and the theft was only discovered on Tuesday.

Mr. Panitan said the investigation was focusing on the possibility the theft was “an inside job” and that since the loss, security at other army weapons warehouses, especially in Bangkok, has been tightened.

The revelation of the theft follows comments yesterday by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that recent intelligence reports had pointed to the possibility of sabotage taking place on March 14.

Mr. Abhisit said that the government's Security-Related Situation Monitoring Committee had received information that acts of sabotage aimed at creating chaos were being planned by red-shirt sympathisers.

When questioned about the matter, Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the Army had no such intelligence.

Sean Boonpracong, international media spokesman for the UDD, said protesters coming to Bangkok on March 12 are being repeatedly told not to bring weapons to the rally and UDD security personnel will be checking people for weapons prior to and during the rally.

“We’re constantly stressing to people that the only “weapon” they should bring is a camera to photograph anything that the government might instigate and to photograph the checkpoints along their route.

“If UDD security personnel detect anyone with weapons then that person will be handed over to government security agents”, Mr. Boonpracong said.