Pro-Thaksin demos getting rough

On Wednesday I saw something on Silom road I only understood today,
after reading about pro-Thaksin demonstrators throwing stuff at
anti-Thaksin demonstrators in Chiang Mai.

Under the Sala Daeng skytrain station, on the pavement towards Silom
Complex (Central department store) were rows of open metal barrels.
They were filled with trash. Along Silom road were pick-up trucks with
pro-Thaksin banners, and men waiting. The men gave off bad vibrations.
While the PAD events are like carnivals or festival parades with
children and women, the pro-Thaksin men had none of this charm or
friendliness about them.

The area outside Silom Complex has been used for lunch hour speeches
and gatherings by the opposition, drawing office workers from nearby.
The pro-Thaksin crowd were ready to pelter them with garbage. Their
presence, a long line of pickup trucks with flags in Thaksin's colours,
was intimidating.

Elsewhere in Bangkok, I know of one Thai anti-Thaksin person who was
attacked and had teeth knocked out by a group of men like these. A
farang who encountered a group of them said they didn't appear to like
foreigners either.

VB

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