Mass Thai protest over leadership

The demonstrators, from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), accuse the current government of being a puppet of the military.

Protest leaders are calling Wednesday their "D-Day" in their efforts to push Mr Abhisit to dissolve his four-month-old government and hold elections.

news.bbc.co.uk...

There is a strong sense of co-ordination to the reds' movement now - they were seen as being far less organised or resourced than the yellow-shirted demonstrators from last year.

All spoke with passion about why they had come and what they wanted - the prime minister to resign and elections to be held.

Pollawat Srichakkote travelled for five hours by road from Surin in the north-east of the country and said he had come to call for democracy in a Thailand divided between rich and poor.

"I want a more perfect democracy that is accepted by everyone in the world and for us to move forward," he said.

"The rich always do things to benefit themselves - it doesn't go to the brothers and sisters in society."

Some of you may remember the protest about four months ago which resulted in the temporary closing of Bangkok's main airport. That was done by the PAD, or the 'yellow shirts'. Now it is the UDD, or the 'red shirts' turn to do their own protesting.

Friday, April 10th was declared a public holiday in Bangkok as a result of many roads being blocked by protesters.

The red shirts (UDD) consist mostly of the poorer Thai's, both urban and rural. While the yellow shirts (PAD) are supporters of the traditional elites from the military and governmental bureaucracy.

While I don't really support either side, it bothered me greatly when four months ago there was a thread which covered the protests and airport takeover by the PAD, which was heavily biased towards the side of the PAD simply because ATS members were given the false impression that the PAD were the 'voice of the people' against the 'evil government'.

I WAS THERE! ... 9 Days I Was Eyewitness In Thailand Airports! ... And Only Foreigner... (VID, PICS)

Hopefully now some members will see the bigger picture more clearly and realize that things are not always what they seem, and not always as cut and dry as some make them out to be.

Fantastic, I wish them all the very best of luck, and I truly hope that they can achieve what they've set out to do I don't know anything about the politics of Thailand, but if the people reckon that something's up, then something has to be done before it turns ugly.

It wouldn't surprise me if China wades in here and takes power.

These guys can't make their minds up... they overthrew their government 6 months ago... and now they want another change. I appreciate that there are rumours of fixing etc, but when will it end? The only true option seems like an assembly government, but judging on the successes (sarc) of the Israeli and Zimbabwean assemblies I'd say that idea won't work either.