State of Emergency

All too common scene these days: a barricade of tires stacked with bamboo spears

Thailand's been in a state of emergency with tensions rising after the pause to celebrate Thai new year, Songkran, mid-April. The red shirts have been protesting since 2006 when Prime Minister/billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra was overthrown by the military.

The protests started with the red shirts supporting Thaksin, who is known for his policies supporting the small, rural poor. Everyone here has heard the rumors about initial protesters getting paid by Thaksin who has made billions through his telecom business. He was overthrown based on claims of corrupt business practices. This current protest started with a clear message: the prime minister and parliament should be elected --not appointed-- to office.

View of the protesters from Thailand's tallest building, Baiyoke II.

The well funded, "grassroots" movement has spun out of control. What started off as support for a figurehead, puppet mastered by the upper and growing upper-middle class, developed into a movement for the disenfranchised. After two months of squatting in central Bangkok's commercial district, a compromise for the disbanding of parliament was drafted. Current Prime Minister Abhisit offered a 5-point plan that would lead to elections November 14th. The plan was rejected by protest leaders who said November 14th was not soon enough. It seems like the only acceptable negotiation would be to have anarchy.

There has been ongoing violence since Thursday when the military and police decided to take a more aggressive approach to push out protesters. With the way things were deadlocked, tear gas and live rounds became inevitable. Maybe we are just jaded from growing up in cities where shootings and violence are common.

Anywho, we feel lucky to have lived here for over a year in relative peace. Some people choose to saunter into protest areas and are surprised to be met with military presence, but it is pretty obvious how to circumvent getting shot or gassed, which leads to my co-worker's story of almost getting shot at and tear gassed when he went out for a massage Friday, pictured below.

You have a day off of work because of civil unrest.
Do you a) stay close to home -or- b) go out for a massage towards the unrest???

You can read his story on the BBC's eyewitness accounts page. I mean, COME ON! Rule #1 in the "How to Avoid Getting Shot" handbook should be: DO NOT LOLLIGAG AROUND ARMED MILITARY WHO HAVE ORDERS TO SHOOT AT THEIR DISCRETION.

UGH. Click on the map below to see a detailed map of protest events since March. It was started by an ex-pat journalist living in Thailand. The flaming icon at the top marks our neighborhood.
*Edit -- a few minutes later: We can hear shots being fired all around our apartment! Glad we're hiding inside today.