Protests in Bangkok

The red shirts seized a major traffic and business centre in Bangkok yesterday. They were hoping to ignite a political dynamite that could blow away the Abhisit government's legitimacy. But their leaders must also have been aware of the opposite scenario: the tens of thousands of protesters might be in effect telling Bangkokians to vote Democrat whenever the next election comes.
The attempt to remind everyone about the occupation of the Suvarnabhumi Airport in November, 2008 was not that wise given two key differences between then and now - the Democrats were not the ones who took the airport, and, unlike the yellow shirts before them, the reds have nobody to fall back on. During the airport seizure, the military was looking the other way, but this time the Democrat government was mapping out responses from inside the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters. At that time The People’s Power Party faced serious legal issues, but this time the Democrats have no pending legal issues.
Crowds lined the streets and footbridges to wave and cheer as the noisy convoy passed. Office workers, shopkeepers and waitresses, they are not the rural poor who make up the red-shirts base, but they work in Bangkok and are from the North of the country and are sympathetic to the Taksin cause because they have lost faith in the system.
This week's rally has tapped into a well of resentment, a perception that the political deck is stacked in favour of an establishment elite who believe they have a right to rule. The red-shirts are demanding the right to elect their own government through the ballot box. The government has consistently said that it respects the red-shirts' right to demonstrate but thinks the protesters' grievances would be better expressed through the system rather than on the streets.