An interesting bit of news coming in today from Thailand about a ‘showdown’ planned for Bangkok, organised by the country’s so-called Red Shirts, who support ousted former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra
According to Thailand’s ‘The Nation’ newspaper:
‘The red shirts’ “showdown rally”, with some 1 million protesters, is expected to start on November 29 and is aimed at overthrowing the government before New Year’s Day.
‘Red-shirt leader Jatuporn Phrompan, an MP from the opposition Pheu Thai Party, said yesterday that the rally would be temporarily brought to a halt from December 3 to 5 for His Majesty’s birthday celebrations.
‘We believe 1 million people will take part and should be able to reach the end game. If we are unable to overthrow the government, we will resume our rally after December 5,” Jatuporn said.’
Unfortunately for those stuck between the Red Shirt/Yellow Shirt struggle, neither side look like giving in.
According to a survey out this week by the country’s Board of Investment, the ongoing turmoil hasn’t deterred too many foreign investors, with only 3 percent considering significant downsizing, compared with 30 percent planning to slightly or significantly expand investment.
But I’m not sure how these kinds of figures will hold up if there’s a repeat of some of the protests last year and this when thousands of holidaymakers were stranded when the main airport was shut down by protestors and the ASEAN summit had to be cancelled.