bombings in bangkok

im currently in cambodia, on my first leg of my travels, and i will write about my experiences here in the coming days. however, there is a lot happening in bangkok at the moment that i think i should explain here.

for over a month now, there has been a large demonstration by the red shirts/udd who established their camp near the famous travelers site of khaosan road. on april 10, just days before the new year celebrations were to begin, violence broke out between the udd and the military, leaving 24 people dead and hundreds of others injured and effectively canceling many of the activities in the capitol for the holiday and shutting down the main business and shopping district of siam.

red shirts near khaosan.

after a week, tensions started to build again and the red shirts planned a protest near the silom area, another business and tourist district, and the military dispersed more troops with the orders to contain but not fight, even though soldiers were set up around the streets with rifles and barbed wire blocking certain areas. days later, they threatened that violence would be used if necessary. and thats when the bombs and grenades began.

barbed wire and soldiers in silom.

one went off on the bts, the skytrain in bangkok, effectively shutting it down, but so far, the deaths have been minimal. there is a movement called the multi-colored shirts which have formed in opposition to the red shirts and who are now demonstrating against them. the yellow shirts, government supporters, are expected to arrive in bangkok within the next week.

the red shirts believe that the elections by which the current government was selected into office were unfair and illegal. their goal with this protest is to have the current government dissolved and new elections held. they have currently proposed an extension of their timeline, giving the government 90 days to plan for the new elections.

the entire thing is still complicated and im not sure exactly what is expected to come of it, but this is a guideline based on what i understand of the situation. as much as im glad to not be in bangkok during this time, a great part of me wishes i was there to experience this important political time.