Red tide returns
Peaceful rallies in capital, Chiang Mai for one day to mark fourth anniversary of 2006 coup and remember May crackdown
In a peaceful and largely symbolic manner, thousands of "leaderless" red shirts defied rain and the threat of arrest, swarming Rajprasong intersection yesterday afternoon to commemorate the fourth anniversary of the September 19, 2006 military coup and the bloodshed four months ago.
Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, the only prominent red shirt not behind bars or on the run, tried to deal with the large crowd through police-loaned speakers, but failed to prevent a large red-shirt crowd from blocking the intersection. He decided to light candles and release balloons nearly two hours before the 7pm schedule to avoid incidents. Many red protesters lingered at the intersection after 7 pm, some dancing to the music.
The intersection was mostly shut between 3pm and 6pm yesterday, but the red shirts started to clear the way for traffic at dusk. Police were totally outnumbered on the streets but monitored the situation through CCTVs. The rally remained peaceful despite some angry, emotional and provocative banners.
"If you shut the road we won't win," Sombat told the visibly angry crowd at about 3pm. "Please think it through... Our fight must go on. We must end today's activity. We fight a political fight and we must win it politically."
The rally followed Thaksin Shinawatra's plea for peace and reconciliation through Twitter. There was little sign of Thaksin's influence at the rally, which appeared spontaneous rather than organised. Many angry red shirtsrepeatedly shouted "Abhisit, get out!" and "B****** ordered the killing" in reference to the 91 deaths that occurred between April and May.
Some protesters told The Nation unrest is likely when their leaders are in jail, killed or on the run. "Don't think we are water buffaloes," said one red-shirt man. "Those who are here [today] are hardcore. They can't be controlled." Other banners said "People died here".
On social media, sentiment was mixed, with many questioning the virtual lack of reference to burnt buildings and ruined businesses. "Buildings were burnt here, too," one twitterer proclaimed angrily. But in the evening red leaders said they regretted the damage to businesses.
Student activists re-enacted the suppression of protesters. A man impersonated the late Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdipol and walked through the cheering crowd while some danced in the falling rain.
Sombat told the crowd before he left he would like to apologise to businesses affected by the red-shirt rally yesterday and back in April and May.
"We should come back and apologise. I and all red shirts would like to apologise. I'll also come back and shop here," he said. Gaysorn Plaza shut itself down again yesterday.
Shortly before six, hundreds of red ribbons were tied together in a large web as red shirts chanted anti-government slogans. Some lit candles in remembrance of those killed and wept. One man shouted: "Let's fight another round."
A 35-year-old woman, Sangwan Suktisen, whose 31-year-old husband Paison Tiplom died on April 10 at Khok Wua intersection, came with her eight-year-old son and three-year-old daughter to join the event.
She held a picture of her husband, who was shot in the head, to show other red-shirt protesters walking around the intersection.
She said she called for the government to bring to justice the persons who killed her husband.
"Even though the government gave me compensation for the death of my husband, no one apologised," she said.
Her three-year-old Saiphan Tiplom held a red balloon with writing, "Bring my father back and get the government out."
Sarawut Sathan, 45, who came from Bang Kapi district, said he joined the protest because he wanted the government to dissolve the House and hold fresh elections as a way to resolve the crisis in society.
Another woman wrote on the road with chalk that she still remembered the time when her friend was killed four months ago.
Sombat said yesterday's symbolic activity at Rajprasong had succeeded in getting the government's attention.
He said he did not expect that over 10,000 would join the rally. "We just came here to tell the government that we will never forget," he said.
However, he accepted the activity had caused a traffic jam around the intersection as the government would not allow him to use a megaphone to control the crowd.
A group of 30 students from the Thammasat Community Against Dic-tatorship and the Chula Community for the People also rallied to commemorate the coup and the crackdown on protesters. The students joined a group ofred shirts in marching from Thammasart University's Thaprachan Campus along Rajdamnoen road to the Democracy Monument.
They held a handmade banner and posters reading "No more dictatorship in Thailand" and "Stop human rights violations and stop controlling democracy".
They also held pictures of Field Marshal Sarit Thanarat who led the 1957 coup, General Suchinda Kraprayoon who led the 1991 coup, and Abhisit while walking around Democracy Monument.
The students walked three times around the monument and laid wreaths to mourn the death of red-shirt protesters who died during the April and May demonstrations. They also mourned the "death of democracy".
"There was no [admitted] responsibility from the government over the bloody crackdown on red shirts, which killed 91 people during April and May, even though many civic groups had called for the government to take responsibility," said Raksart Wong-athichart, a 19-year-old Thammasat University Faculty of Liberal Arts student at the Democracy Monument.
"We want society to realise that our democracy is declining," he added.
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