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Thai 'Red Shirts' Continue Anti-Government Protest

   VOA News 17 March 2010
   Thai  riot  police  officers  stand in front of Prime Minister Abhisit
   Vejjajiva's residence

Photo: AP

   Thai  riot  police  officers  stand in front of Prime Minister Abhisit
   Vejjajiva's  residence after protesters and supporters of ousted Prime
   Minister  Thaksin  Shinawatra fought the police lines and poured blood
   on the gate and fence in Bangkok, Thailand, 17 Mar 2010

   Anti-government  protesters  in  Thailand poured blood in front of the
   residence  of  Prime  Minister  Abhisit Vejjajiva Wednesday as part of
   their demand for new elections.
   A  heavy  police barricade greeted the protesters when they arrived at
   Mr.  Abhisit's residence in an upscale Bangkok neighborhood in a heavy
   rain.
   Thousands of "Red Shirt" protesters later demonstrated in front of the
   U.S.  Embassy,  demanding clarification of comments made by Thailand's
   deputy  prime  minister  that  it had received foreign intelligence of
   possible violence during the rally.
   The  blood  spilling  demonstration  at  the  prime  minister's  house
   followed  a  similar  event  Tuesday,  when protest leaders poured 300
   liters  of blood donated by their followers at the gates of Government
   House and the headquarters of Mr. Abhisit's Democrat Party.
   More  than 100,000 "Red Shirts" converged on Bangkok Sunday, but their
   numbers have declined due to frustration over a lack of direction, and
   the prime minister's steadfast rejection of their demands.
   The  "Red  Shirts,"  many  of them rural and poor, are loyal to former
   Prime  Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a military coup
   in 2006.
   They  claim  the  Abhisit government came to power illegitimately with
   the military's support, after court rulings removed two Thaksin-allied
   governments  from power.  Mr. Abhisit is backed by the upper class and
   the military.
   The  National  Human Rights Commission is meeting with both sides this
   week to try to resolve the crisis.
   Mr.  Thaksin  is  living  in  self-imposed  exile, avoiding a two-year
   prison sentence for graft.
   Some information for this report provided by AFP and Reuters.

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