<p>Police have arrested the webmaster of a pro-red shirt website for committing lèse majesté, and will make more arrests.</p>
<p>The Energy Ministry has warned that if nuclear power is not an option, the public will face higher electricity rates, due to the high price of liquefied natural gas.</p>
<p>According to Matichon online, Pol Maj Gen Vichai Sangprapai, Commander of the 1st Metropolitan Police, said on 31 March that the police had been asked to bring Sondhi Limthongkul to the prosecutor by 2 April.</p>
<p>The Research Centre of Bangkok University has found that 45.6% of Bangkokians have no hope of an improved political situation after the two rounds of talks between the government and the red-shirt leaders. They give Abhisit 6.09 out of 10 points for his performance as Prime Minister in handling the protests.</p>
<p>Bang Khen police arrested a sergeant-major and Bangkok municipal officials for destroying UDD campaign signs.</p>
<p>According to an <a href="http://www.manager.co.th/Politics/ViewNews.aspx?NewsID=9530000042080">ASTV-Manager report</a> on 25 March, Rosana Tositrakul, a Bangkok Senator, said that despite their claims of non-violence, the red shirts’ practices have been threatening. She branded the red shirts’ activities with her own term, ‘uncivil intimidation’ </p>
<p>A group called the Network of Bangkok Community Citizens has come out claiming to speak for 1,800 communities in Bangkok to urge the red shirts not to violate the rights of Bangkokians. Its spokesperson, however, has been exposed as a supporter of the People’s Alliance for Democracy protests in 2008 on behalf of the Isaan people.</p>
<p class="rteleft">Phreuk Thaothawin, a political scientist from the Faculty of Arts of Ubon Ratchathani University, is one of the few academics who have not been shy to say that they are sympathetic to the red shirts’ cause. On 21 March, he shared his views on the red shirts in a public forum in Bangkok. </p>
By Pravit Rojanaphruk |
<p>As the political standoff continues, Pravit Rojanaphruk talks to "Luke Chao Na Thai" or "Thai Peasant's Son", an influential red-shirt intellectual whose articles under the pen name is widely followed by many middle-class red shirts. "Luke Chao Na Thai" was educated in Thailand and England. He is a bureaucrat in his mid forties who kept his real identity secret due to his bureaucratic status. His father is a humble peasant from a province in the lower Northern region of Thailand.</p>
<p>About 40,000 cc of blood left over from the red shirts’ splashing activities at Government House, Abhisit’s residence and the Headquarters of the Democrat Party has been used to paint banners and make artworks.</p>
<p>A group of Chulalongkorn doctors have expressed their disapproval through the Facebook network of medical student Salaktham Tojirakarn, who is from the same institution and is the son of red-shirt leader Dr Weng Tojirakarn, for helping the red shirts in the blood gathering activity on 16 March. They have written a letter to the university’s Faculty of Medicine administration and the Faculty’s Alumni Association to have him investigated for his conduct, and have the case forwarded to the Medical Council to consider in the issuance of his professional medical licence.</p>
By Pongpan Chumjai, Prachatai |
<p>The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) or "Red Shirt" demonstrators sacrificed blood during their protest in Bangkok on March 16, 2010. They vowed to collect one million cubic centimetres of blood to pour outside Government House in Bangkok. Protest leaders said this campaign is a symbolic move to protest against the government and call for fresh elections.</p>