IN BANGKOK
1.30pm Bangkok time:
JUST returned from Sukhumvit Soi 31, where Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's house is located. Much of Sukhumvit is still clogged with Red Shirts in their vehicles, but should be clear in a couple of hours as they disperse — though they are pausing at the US Embassy on Wireless Road on the way back.
Outside Sukhumvit Soi 31, where Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's house is located, as Red Shirts daub the gate with blood in Bangkok. ST PHOTO: Nirmal Ghosh
I got to the PM's house — which is close to my apartment — at around 9.15am to find several hundred police and soldiers guarding access roads. The police have brand new riot gear: Black padded suits and shields.
The PM himself was in Hat Yai at the funeral of a police officer recently killed in the troubled south.
Lanes in Sukhumvit — which 50 years ago was an area of rice fields and rural hamlets — are narrow. The police had parked their trucks across all access points.
The Red Shirts of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) had arrived at the mouth of Soi 31, and were playing loud music and waiting for more to join them from their main rally site on Rajadamnoen, halfway across the city.
The Red's numbers kept building, and I hung around with some other journalists waiting for developments. The Reds also sent some supporters around to other sois ("Soi" means lane) leading to the PM's house.
Shortly after 11am the rain came down, bringing some welcome relief after days of scorching sun.
At around the same time, negotiations between the red shirts and the police commander resulted in the police pulling back slowly and the Reds surging up the road towards the PM's house, many bearing bottles of the blood they had "donated" on Tuesday. The intent was to spill the blood at the gates of the PM's house in a symbolic "sacrifice" for democracy.
The Red's advance up the narrow lane saw some pushing and shoving, with the rain bucketing down and soaking everybody including journalists to the skin. Rarely has a lane in salubrious Sukhumvit seen such a sight.
Finally they arrived at the gate of the house, and a media scrum ensued, with much jostling, as they splashed the blood on the road and on the gate, closely watched by police. With the rain coming down the blood soon covered the whole road. I kept a few metres away; there were plenty of TV and still cameramen up close to the blood, and I felt I did not need to add to the throng.
Some Red Shirts lobbed small plastic bags full of blood over the wall into the compound of the house. But Red Shirt leader Nattawut Saikuar quickly told them through his own sound system to stop, saying they had promised to not damage or break into the property. He was able to bring the more rowdy reds under control quite swiftly.
The "bloodletting" was soon over, and the rains stopped, leaving the reds to disperse. In an enthusiastic mood, their trucks filled Sukhumvit, music blaring. Many passers by cheered them as they trundled past.
The atmosphere was festive and friendly, and there was no tension even outside the PM’s house. Many have frowned on the unconventional tactic of pouring blood on the streets, but at least on Tuesday it made an impact in the media.
The Reds are now reassembling at Rajadamnoen. It remains to be seen what their next move will be, or how long they can sustain their protest. So far, security forces have handled everything well — and so have the Reds. There has been no undue provocation from either side.
Read more of Nirmal Ghosh's blogs on the protests in Bangkok:
BloodyTuesday in Bangkok
LIVE blog on Bangkok protests
Bangkok awaiting 'rural hordes'