Red Shirt Protests: Day 16

Anti-Government Red Shirts converged on the 11th Infantry Barracks in Bangkok at the weekend. Their continuing aim is to unseat Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and they seek dissolution of the lower House and fresh elections.

Having succeeded in forcing Government troops to retreat from key points around the city on the previous day, the Red Shirts displayed an even greater sense of determination as they gathered at the barracks, where the Prime Minister has been residing during the current unrest. Abhisit appeared on national television stations in the morning, taking a tough stance and asserting that the barracks and armoury within would be defended. It seemed that this might be the point at which the situation became volatile.

The Red Shirts gathered outside the barracks and along Prahon Yothin, near the old city airport. The cheering and flag-waving were punctuated by demands for the Prime Minister to appear, shouted from the tops of trucks and buses parked outside the barrack gates. Behind the gates and barbed wire, soldiers and police took up position, apparently ready to defend any attempts to infiltrate the grounds.

Within a couple of hours, news filtered through to the crowds that Prime Minister Abhisit had agreed to sit-down talks with the Red Shirt leaders. In what seemed at first to be another back-down, it may have been an astute ploy to avoid conflict and it did succeed in getting the Red Shirts to attend a meeting that they had previously declined.

Within four hours, in what seemed a quite extraordinary development to me, the opposing sides had each sent three of their leaders for face-to-face talks that were televised live across all local channels. Even without being able to understand the conversation, it was compelling viewing and I wonder how many European and American political leaders would be prepared for their high-level discussions to be televised live.

As I write this there has been one further live meeting between the Government and the Red Shirts but no agreement has been reached. The Prime Minister returns to Thailand tomorrow (Thursday 1st April) from a visit to Bahrain and talks are scheduled to resume.

Traffic stopped along Prahon Yothin as protesters gathered outside the barracks

Red Shirt guards circle the truck from which protests are shouted through a tannoy

Protesters arrived in determined mood

Red shirts outside the barracks face a thin line of police outside the main gate

A young policeman faces the Red Shirt crowd

Outside the gates and across the road, surrounded by Red Shirts, I was surprised to find a group of police reinforcements. Drafted from Phi Phi island, these police officers waited to relieve their colleagues positioned outside the main gates of the barracks. The reinforcements shared food with the Reds, borrowed one another’s newspapers and sat side-by-side in the shade. I’m  not sure I fully understand how that works and it seems an especially Thai attitude that even those on opposing sides can still be friendly. The policeman in the image below was securing his leg pads whilst those around him (Red Shirts) ate, drank and chatted. It occurred to me as I went to photograph the scene that without the colours and uniforms, he could just as easily have been strapping on his pads at an English village cricket match before going in to bat. I snapped a couple of frames before protesters gathered around the policeman from Phi Phi island, wanting to be included in the frame.

What forces would drive these people, apparently so very friendly, to head towards the point at which they may be fighting each other? OK, perhaps not these people, but people just like them. It’s a rhetorical question but I’m still unsure what motivates people to confront their fellows in this way. Of all the pictures I’ve taken of the Red shirt protests over the last two weeks, these two of the policemen and protesters side-by-side are perhaps the most telling.

As news came through that talks were to be held within a few hours, the Red Shirts, claiming another victory, began to celebrate.

Talks should continue tomorrow and I know that all of us who spectate from the sidelines are hoping for a speedy and non-violent resolution. I head off to India with Matt Brandon at the weekend – we’re leading a group of photographers to Delhi, Varanasi and the Kumbh Mela – so there won’t be any more in this sequence of Red Shirt protests from me but I encourage you to head over to Jack Kurtz’s web site where you’ll be sure to find more stories and pictures from Thailand.

Posted on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010 at 11:27 am. Filed under: Documentary, Events, My work Tags: bangkok, protests, red shirt, thailand RSS 2.0 feed.