Bangkok Political Protests and Songkran Festival, Thailand.

Here in Thailand I am pretty sure that most people will already know the political circus that is happening. Things have really escalated over the last few days to a point of a debacle.

A state of emergency has been declared for Bangkok and some surrounding areas which have meant that some army tanks have been deployed onto the streets of Bangkok. Also the army has power to use whatever force deemed necessary to restore order. The gathering of more than 5 people for political reasons is illegal but ‘the red shirt’ protesters have ignored this so far.


I have seen pictures of red shirt protesters standing on armoured vehicles and also riding on one that was travelling along a road. There have been rumours of red shirts taking control of some of these vehicles.


The red shirts have backed the current prime minister into a corner as they attacked ministers’ cars and at one stage took the prime minister’s secretary out of the vehicle and crowd surfed him off into the distance while cheering their capture.

Thaksin Shinawatra the former prime minister called on more protesters to attend rallies and not be scared by the threats of violence. He also said that he would return to Thailand if violence was used.

The sad part is that the Thai New Year is about to start, Songkran is a huge festival for Thailand and for three days so much water is wasted by young and old celebrating the Thai New Year.

How this will affect people in Bangkok and surrounding Bangkok I am not sure. Here in Isaan things are pretty normal but there are plenty of people getting about in trucks wearing red shirts with different messages plastered across them.

I feel very safe here in Isaan, but as of today when the water festival starts and people are drinking and so forth I really don’t know what might happen. If things go berserk in Bangkok then it could filter through to Isaan. There could be clashes between groups of people, I really don’t know.

I am actually not that keen or worried about going out and throwing water over the next few days. I will though tomorrow with some friends as I want to get some pictures of the insanity that is Songkran. I will be keeping a close eye on things in Bangkok and also just watching what is going on about Ubon Ratchathani.

If things turn to shit we will just sit at home and wait all the idiocy out, I don’t have to venture too far for all the things we need to get by thankfully. Hopefully things will go smoothly over the coming days.

While all this is happening, in the first two days of the Thai New Year festival road toll has hit 95. 95 people have already lost their lives, 992 injuries reported and over 900 accidents.

Drink driving and speeding have been the main causes of accidents.

There are 3,000 odd check points across Thailand over the 7 deadly days, there have been 700,000 plus vehicles checked so far and 18,232 people were arrested (the paper stated ‘arrested’ but I believe it means fined) for not having a licence. That is 1 person in every 39 who was stopped. Also 17,638 people were not wearing a motorbike helmet or 1 in every 40 people.

Sadly the road toll will skyrocket over the coming days when the celebrations start and the alcohol starts to flow freely. Most deaths will be young motorbike riders not wearing helmets, the same story every year.

Government officials have ordered police to strictly enforce the alcohol laws, especially the sale of alcohol to people under 20. This sadly will also be ignored and impossible to enforce. People caught violating this law can be fined 20,000 Thai baht and also face 1 year in jail.

Brunty