Yellow Shirts march on Silom

Yellow shirts descended upon Silom today in protest over the deaths caused by last month’s clashes. Two yellow shirts were killed and several dismembered last September when police moved in to push the Yellow Shirts away from around Parliament to allow sessions on the current political stalemate to continue.

An inquiry after the clashes found that faulty CS grenades from China with traces of high explosives, as well as poor police training in anti-riot drills were to blame for the injuries.

Capitalizing on the opportunity to garnish sympathy Yellow Shirts descended in their thousands clogging up Silom, one of the busiest streets in Bangkok.

Whole families marched. Old women and children have become an unusual norm in the PAD’s protest line-up. With their ‘clappy-hand’ wielding middle-class and middle aged followers the Yellow Shirt march carried a naive carnival like atmosphere that has become hallmark of the PAD’s events.

Protesters carried signs accusing the police chief of murder and portraits of the two dead, now accidental martyrs to the Yellow Shirts cause.

PAD leadership dispensed magazines and CDs depicting last months violence. Such was the level of hysteria that protesters scrambled in a frenzy around trucks as CD’s were dispensed whilst PAD leaders’ gave fiery speeches.

Police presence was minimal. In handling the Yellows Shirts and their many powerful and connected members, the police have greatly had their hands politically tied behind their backs and could only look on as the yellow shirts took over, blocking streets and directing traffic, even the police vans.

In nearby Lumpinee park the bulk of the police contingent waited in case things got out of hand. Some showed clear signs of frustration of their impossible position, whilst others took the opportunity to partake in the very Thai tradition of eating Som Tam in the park.

The march looped around towards the downtown police headquarters, however in a politically calculated move, stopped a few blocks short. It seems, for today at least, the PAD felt their point had been made.