Thailand’s Red Shirts, bloodied but apparently unbowed, say they will gather tens of thousands of people in fresh rallies that will start this week here in the country’s second-largest city, which is currently a no-go area for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The colour red, almost invisible on the streets of Bangkok since a bloody military crackdown last week on the anti-government movement, is still in vogue in Chiang Mai, the power base of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Red Shirt radio stations remain on the air in the city and veterans of the Bangkok clashes were gathered Sunday under a red flag on at least one street corner, in defiance of the country’s state-of-emergency laws. Those returning from the street battle in Bangkok were given a hero’s welcome by hundreds of supporters when they rolled into the Chiang Mai train station on Friday.
People in north Thailand and northeast Thailand have a different culture than people in Bangkok. — Pongpan Chumjai, Chiang Mai-based journalist
“We want to tell people that we are not hiding, that we are going to fight again after the emergency decree and the curfews are over,” said Taywee Chumnanarsa, the owner of 89.25 FM, a station that broadcasts news and announcements on behalf of the formal Red Shirt movement, known as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, or UDD. Like Bangkok, Chiang Mai and 22 other provinces remain under a nightly curfew, the need for which the government says it will review on a daily basis.
By military order, 89.25 FM is currently allowed to play only music, so DJs at the station said they were choosing “inspirational” tunes that would let listeners know that the battle is not lost.
Ms. Taywee said the Red Shirts had obtained permission to hold a mass rally in the city on Saturday. She said the gathering, which she predicted would draw 20,000 people from Chiang Mai and the surrounding provinces, would be peaceful, but warned that splinter groups from the main Red Shirt movement have gone underground and are planning a campaign of violence against the government and military.
Workers scrub the streets of Bangkok on Sunday, May 23, as cleanup begins in the Thai capital after months of unrest.— David Longstreath/The Associated Press
The spectre of guerrilla warfare in the north of the country, something Mr. Thaksin warned might result from the military crackdown against the Red Shirts in Bangkok last week, is particularly unsettling for a country already dealing with a violent insurgency that has claimed thousands of lives in several predominantly Muslim provinces in the south.
Even before the recent crisis broke out, Mr. Abhisit appeared reluctant to travel to Chiang Mai, a city that in peaceful times is a tourist magnet because of its graceful Buddhist temples and a nearby elephant park. Mr. Abhisit cancelled a planned speech in November at the regional chamber of commerce after warnings that his presence in the city would spark violent protests.
Mr. Abhisit is as reviled here as Mr. Thaksin is admired. The latter, who was deposed by a 2006 military coup, is still widely appreciated for using his time in office to pour money into the north and northeast of the country, which developmentally lag decades behind the modernity and affluence of Bangkok.
The political divide between the north and the rest of the country was plain during the post-coup elections in late 2007, the last vote held in Thailand. Overwhelming support from the north and northeast propelled the pro-Thaksin People’s Power Party to victory, while the rest of the country backed Mr. Abhisit’s Democrat Party.
