You don’t have to go home, but you can’t stay here. Due to the protests in down town Bangkok, hotels in the area are sending there guests away some place safer. People seem to be honestly worried that these protests are going to turn more violent and are taking precautions. Some Thai hotels are not accepting new guest until at least Monday. Things have ratcheted up in recent days. With the Thai Army saying they will be using live ammo to defend themselves and the Silom Business district, and the Red Shirt protesters rumored to have grenades, fire bombs, and seen making sharpened bamboo polls by the stack, this could get ugly.
There is no doubt the Army is going to put an end to this, with the show of force currently in down town Bangkok, and some tough words coming out. The Red Shirts have backed down for the moment, but they expect a show down. I’d like to a swift end to this nonsense, but with any more lives being lost. But it seems like the core of the civil unrest is a die hard group, and they seem to enjoy the confrontation and violence. With the Thai Army weapons that have be taken and not returned, there is a good chance there will be a shoot out at some point.
They need to think about what being a democracy really means, and not resort to this type of thing. But with all the fear mongering, hate, and violent rhetoric being spouted off by the Republican party in the United States, it seems like we are getting close to walking a similar line. So I’m not sure how much room we have to talk.
