Day 2 Reds March on Bangkok

Thai soldiers relax waiting to be called if needed

Day 2. Saturday March 13, 2010. With only 70,000-80,000 red shirt protesters in Bangkok and another 20,000 expected for the mass rally tomorrow (Sunday), it’s beginning to look like the whole affair is a dud, which will be a good thing for Thailand and for me. The red shirt supporters of fugitive ex-PM Thaksin had promised that a million red shirts would descend on Bangkok, and one-tenth that number is a far cry from the support that they claim to have. While 100,000 dedicated anarchists are more than enough to visit chaos on Bangkok, the government appears ready to deal with them in an adept way, and any attempt by the red shirts to resort to violence or the mayhem that they caused this past April, will only further weaken their cause. Except for the immediate area of the protest site, Bangkok was without traffic problems on Saturday, which was a relief from the always present traffic jams, and was evidence that, like me, Bangkokians had decided to sit this one out at home. The rally starts at noon on Sunday and there are 30,000 army personnel, 10,000 police and 10,000 security volunteers, all unarmed, on the streets of Bangkok to deal with any incidents. The platoon of police in the park on my block, still have their riot gear stowed in sight of all, and I doubt that they will have any need for it.