Security ... think about it!
These are the so-called Red Shirts, mostly country folk, who have been camping in the capital for a month. They are devoted to Mr. Thaksin but also increasingly asserting their newfound rights as individual voters and as the country’s strongest electoral bloc.
Troops and protesters maintained a cease-fire in Bangkok today. Demonstrators are in makeshift camps near Government House, and in the city’s tourist and shopping heartland, where they are occupying a major intersection. Parts of the city’s elevated train system, known as the skytrain, remained closed for a third day today. Soldiers used rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse crowds, and protesters fought back with guns and bombs during the April 10 clash, government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said yesterday. Troops were ordered back to their bases to recuperate, he said.