Thailand was mired in political deadlock yesterday as demonstrators used their own blood to create a giant piece of protest art after refusing talks with the government.
Buoyed by a huge parade a day earlier, the defiant “Red Shirts” painted and wrote poems on white canvas with the remains of the blood donated by supporters and splattered on the prime minister’s house and offices in the past week.
“People of the next generation will know that the older generation would sacrifice everything, including their blood,” Red Shirt poet Visa Kantab told the cheering crowd from the main rally stage in Bangkok’s old quarter.
“After we are victorious, we will frame it as evidence of history,” he said before the artwork was displayed to protesters, who are calling for parliament’s dissolution and immediate elections.
The Red Shirts back ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and say the current government is illegitimate, as it came to power with army backing via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling removed his allies.
In what they have increasingly dubbed a “class war,” the mainly poor and rural Reds say they are fighting Thailand’s elite in bureaucratic, military and palace circles, whom they accuse of ousting elected governments.
Saturday’s carnival-like protests, that swelled to 65,000 people, aimed to recruit urban support and revive their waning rally demanding the dissolution of parliament and immediate elections.
A few hours after the peaceful parade, two small explosions hit Bangkok and a nearby province, targeting a new National Counter Corruption Commission office and a road near the defense ministry.
It was not clear who was behind the late-night attacks, in which one person suffered minor wounds, police said.
Thaksin, who lives in exile to avoid a jail term for corruption, spoke to supporters via a video link on Saturday night, thanking those who took part in the parade.
“I’m really proud of you. I almost cried,” he said.
“Today I want to invite everyone to join us to call for democracy. You don’t have to wear red, but just have one ideology — democracy,” said Thaksin, who was deposed in a coup in 2006.
Earlier, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said the demonstrators had agreed to send two senior Red Shirts to meet one of his ministers and a government official, but after their colorful convoy returned to the main rally site, the Red Shirts stuck to their demands for a snap poll.
Abhisit, who has spent most of the rally holed up in an army barracks, said he would not meet protesters immediately.
“They can talk to me, but before reaching that step, they must meet representatives to talk about the outline of talks,” he said on his weekly television program. “If [the Red Shirts] come it means they are interested in democracy. If not, they are following what Thaksin wants them to do.”
A 50,000-strong security force has been in place in Bangkok and surrounding areas during the protests under a strict security law, which is in place until tomorrow, but may be extended until a later date if the rally goes on, Abhisit said.
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