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After five straight days of protests, Thailand’s prime minister has still not stepped down, leading the “red shirt” protesters to follow through on their ultimatum of pouring blood on government buildings.On Tuesday, in a supposed Brahman ceremony—unusual in itself for predominantly Buddhist Thailand—the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) spilled jugs of blood onto the ground before all four gates of government headquarters.
The twelve five-liter bottles, two large buckets, and fifty syringes of blood was collected from protesters and about 60 opposition parliament members, according to the Bangkok Post. Medical personnel reportedly collected the 300,000 cc’s of blood from protesters in a country with a significant infection rate of HIV AIDS.
On Wednesday, as rain fell throughout the day, they poured more blood in front of the home of the prime minister.
While Tuesday’s demonstration was orderly, albeit grisly, the crowd was a little more aggressive on the following day. In both cases, only a handful of UDD protesters, plus a slew of media, had been allowed by security to watch the ceremonies. The rest of the crowd was kept back by police in riot gear. UDD organizers have repeatedly promised that the demonstrations will not turn violent, but some protesters took the opportunity of being outside the prime minister’s home to lob more blood and other objects over the fence.
The tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters, who have been in the streets since the weekend, are supporters of ex-Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006 and was recently convicted on corruption charges with orders to seize $1.4 billion of his assets. He is currently living in exile in Dubai, yet keeps a tight hand on events in Bangkok.
The mob also marched to the U.S. Embassy to demand answers regarding Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban’s claim that the United States, among other countries, had bugged phone conversations of the deposed prime minister and warned Thai authorities of possible trouble. The embassy accepted their letter, but declined to reply, saying it was up to Suthep to offer clarification, according to the Bangkok Post.
