Bangkok Taxi Drivers Join Protests
Taxi drivers sympathetic to the red shirted anti-government protesters have brought traffic chaos to Bangkok this afternoon. Around 20 taxis were parked in the road blocking the roundabout at Victory Monument. Police ordered the taxis to move and the drivers refused. The taxi drivers association say that if the government doesn’t resign, thousands of taxis will be parked up at key traffic intersections in Bangkok. There is no suggestion so far that the two Bangkok airports will be targeted. However, the red shirts watched how the tactics of the yellow shirts were able to bring the government to its knees last year and so nothing should be ruled out.
With traffic at a standstill and buses re-routed, the Bangkok Skytrain system has been struggling to cope with the vast numbers of commuters. Victory Monument itself is now drawing large numbers of red shirts who are waving Thai flags and the area could become a new focus of protest.
Meanwhile, there have been further regional protests today in various parts of Thailand as the red shirts increase the pressure on PM Abhisit and his government. There are indications that the red shirts will switch their attention to the beach resort of Pattaya which is due to host an ASEAN summit this weekend. The Thai government has assured the visitors from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) that their safety is guaranteed, but the situation will be of great embarrassment to the Thai government in front of their regional neighbours.
Tensions nearly boiled over this morning when a yellow shirt supporter drove a car into a crowd of red shirts outside the residence of Prem Tinsulanonda in Bangkok. Nobody was injured and the female car driver escaped.
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