PHUKET red shirt protest leader Sunthorn Toema was in a queue with 10,000 others to give blood today for an innovative protest intended to smear the Thai government.
''It's hot here,'' he told
Phuketwan from Bangkok, ''but we hope to make it even hotter for the government.''
Khun Sunthorn said he was proud to give blood and be a part of the unusual protest.
Hundreds of litres of blood, given by the red-shirts, are to be smeared at Government House later today and at other government buildings on Wednesday and Thursday.
Cabinet was due to meet today but reports said the meeting may be postponed.
A meeting of red shirt leaders was also underway today, Khun Sunthorn said, and they would probably decide to allow protesters to return home from today on if they have other obligations.
No firm figure has been set on the total number of protesters, although most estimates are about 100,000 or more, with about 500 people travelling up to the capital from Phuket.
The Red Cross of Thailand today objected to the use of the word ''donate'' in connection with the blood protest because the blood would be wasted.
Others said that collection of blood for such a purpose may be illegal.
Associated Press reported that for a second straight day, fugitive former PM Thaksin Shinawatra spoke to the demonstrators by video, urging them to continue their struggle in a nonviolent fashion.
He has cited the struggle against what he calls Thailand's ruling elite, and called for lawmakers, soldiers, policemen, judges and members of the bureaucracy to join the red shirt cause.
The point of the blood protest was hard to determine, given that political protests in Thailand have been largely free of violence.
It is certainly true that the prolonged stand-off between the reds and the yellows has produced some innovative techniques, with the yellows invading Phuket airport then Suvarnabhumi airport in Bangkok in 2008 in a world-first use of that novel idea.
Observers remain concerned that violence may occur if the protest ends and demonstrators have to return home without achieving victory.
While tourism industry leaders say Phuket tourism has not been damaged markedly by the protest, onlookers say that it's hard to see how the protest could be positive for any destination in Thailand.
Reds plan to spill blood; Thaksin in Montenegro?; shirt slogan triggers airport alert; Erectile dysfunction and heart attack; Fiji fury; Woman, 92, charged with killing hubby, 98.
A new strategy is on the way to protect tourists and locals from drowning on Phuket's beaches. It should be in place just in time for the island's dangerous monsoon season.
A grenade injures two soldiers as the unpredictability of thousands of marchers on Bangkok's streets sparks concerns about a violent end to the protest.
Marchers head for PM's compound; Differences about scale of protest; Boatpeople in Malaysia; Burma faces UN call; Phuket events.
Pressure to act on Phuket's taxi and tuktuk monopoly and rip off fares has increased with the criticisms of a cruise line that delivers thousands of tourists to the island.
Bangkok protest latest; Tiger Woods 'back with family';Tourists not alarmed as reds rise; Thaksin 'bound for Europe'; One million march, or one million tourists.
"Observers remain concerned that violence may occur if the protest ends and demonstrators have to return home without achieving victory"
If you back the wrong horse in a race and it it loses you get nothing.
To back winners you have to study the form by looking at the neddy's track record. The better the form the better your chances of winning are.
Stop flogging the dead horse.
Posted by Whispering Jack on March 16, 2010 11:25