Articles Available Online

The closest I had ever come to a protest was in 2003, in Bangkok, when I tried and failed to join the Stop the War demonstration against the Iraq War I had arrived in Bangkok’s central most park, Lumpini Park, just as people were dismantling their signs and banners Seven years on, Lumpini Park was to be the site for a different kind of protest, and this time around, I was to have some experience of it   The ‘Red Shirts’ had arrived en masse in Bangkok in March, six months after I had moved to the city to live Made redundant and with no job on the horizon, I had moved here to teach English and had been enjoying the peaceful lifestyle, hot weather and delicious food There had been some warning signs before the protest began The Red Shirts had taken responsibility for a rocket launcher attack on a market in January 2010, and I asked my Thai friends a lot of questions about the attack They seemed concerned about the situation, but assured me Bangkok was quite safe and they would not target the areas frequented by foreigners   I first heard that there would be a protest a few weeks before it began It got everyone at my school talking, and the Red Shirts’ imminent presence seemed to catapult the ex-pat community into a frenzy of speculation and intrigue Numerous rumours were bandied around about their intentions, motivations and strengths and weaknesses A colleague of mine remarked, not long before the protests began: ‘I don’t want to sound alarmist, but from what I can make out we should be expecting civil war quite soon’ He nodded this in such a grave and knowing fashion that others around him momentarily forgot not to get carried away Thai friends I spoke to seemed more measured, but already there was a feeling that they were unappreciated and unwanted by most Bangkok residents, who cited the protesters’ poor education to discredit their motives   In the early days of the protest, the Red Shirts camped out across the river from my work and my apartment