Who are the Red Shirts and why are they angry?
Shortly after leaders called off protests in Thailand, a group of Red Shirts still set fire to Thailand’s Stock Exchange floor. Headlines about Red Shirts are all over the world news, and you are wondering who they are and why they are so angry.
Red Shirts is the unofficial name given to the members of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in Thailand.
“The Red Shirt opposition members support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 bloodless military coup. They have been protesting for weeks, demanding that current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and call new elections.”1
An election was scheduled for November, but the Red Shirts have been slow to end the violence and leave Bangkok (Thailand’s capital), so now the election date is up in the air again, leading to more violence and a seemingly endless cycle of stubborn “push and shove” resulting in lost lives.
Thaksin is a polarizing figure but was elected in 2006 and is still popular with many. However, he was found guilty of corruption involving a suspect land deal for his wife among other charges. He is worth billions but has been banished from Thailand. For the record, Thaksin claims to have no affiliation with the Red Shirts. The infighting in Bangkok has been going on for some time now, but further escalation may lead to a full-blown civil war. Thaksin is currently residing in the bordering Cambodia, so border wars aren’t out of the question either.
Read on:
CNN.com – Explainer: Thailand’s political crisis (very informative)
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