BangkokBangkok may have been convulsed with its worst political violence in a generation over the past five days, when 37 died in bloody street fighting, but in much of the capital it is business as usual, albeit with less traffic.

Until Thursday, when the de-facto military leader of the so-called red shirt rebellion was shot in the head by a sniper, the demonstrations had been confined to the Ratchaprasong commercial district. It existed as a city-within-a-city with its own makeshift restaurants, souvenir vendors, pharmacies, black-shirted police force and even massage parlours.

An order to shut down government offices this week and delay the reopening of some 400 schools in Bangkok has disrupted the business-as-usual attitude of many Thais outside the red zone.
But within the red zone at Ratchaprasong, life goes on as usual despite the government’s efforts to place a stranglehold on the neighbourhood, which is normally Bangkok’s prime hub for upscale shopping malls and five-star hotels.

See the full article from “Earthtimes (press release)”




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