Fiasco update

It is late Sunday afternoon in Bangkok, and this is an update of today's earlier blog post (see below).

The leader of the red shirt protest mob was arrested today. Many of his followers then stormed the Interior Ministry, apparently looking for Prime Minister Abhisit. The PM has declared a state of emergency. That means troops can take to the streets and no public gatherings of more than five people will be allowed. In my neighborhood, I have seen no gatherings and no soldiers.

Thailand states of emergency in recent years have been meaningless, partly because the army and police don't seem to want anybody to get hurt. (Thailand is still haunted by the deaths of hundreds of student demonstrators at the hands of the military in the 1970s.) Also, it's unclear how many troops and police are "red" and how many "yellow" in their political sympathies. They seem to be divided.

Where is King Bhumibole in all this? He may or may not intervene. A problem is, he is 82 and said to be frail and maybe not as alert as he might be.

I'm going farther out (I'm in an internet cafe near the hotel) and hope to run into some Thais I know and may update the update later. I obtained some info from the BBC, but not much from Thai TV news. The only words I understood were "wansee" (today) and somebody exclaiming "mai dai!" (don't do it), and not much else. If the PM goes on the air again and declares, "That tree is green," I'm in business.