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Bangkok's Bloody Government Protests Turn Tourists Away from Thailand

March 15, 2010 at 3:18 PM | by | Comment (1)

We unfortunately have to do this post every few years, but such is your enthusiasm for Thai shopping and Thai medical tourism that the point bears repeating. When countries are in the grips of violent convulsions—people taking to the streets, grenades being tossed at soldiers, and so on - we, your parents, and your local government officials would prefer if you cancel any leisure plans in the area.

Nothing spoils a vacation faster than getting dead, with the possible exception of getting kidnapped and then getting dead. Which isn't to say that would happen if you went to Thailand. But the country's kind of totally paralyzed right now so why take chances?

So what's going on, exactly? Find out after the jump

The background is that government opponents from Thailand's rural areas have been systematically moving across the capital Bangkok, occupying streets and occassionally overrunning the odd military installation. They want the resignation of the sitting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the restoration (kind of?) of fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Shinawatra's holed up in Dubai right now avoiding corruption charges—lthe picture above is from the 2008 protests which ousted him—but he still has thousands of supporters in the north and northeast of the country.

This time they're the ones in the streets, calling for Vejjajiva's resignation, demanding new elections, and screaming about one or two other things. The details aren't terribly important for our purposes. The salient part is that some time today someone's going splash 2,000 liters of donated blood on government and party buildings as part of the protest. It's an impressive level of dedication. But you don't want a piece of that.

As always on these matters, the Flyertalk folks seem to have the most updated information. They've been tracking the cascade of travel warnings that various governments have been issuing, although the thread hasn't been without controversy. There are those who think that the protests are being oversold as a way to damage Thailand's fragile tourism industry, thereby damaging the government itself. "Scaremongering" in the words of one contributor. Eh. With everyone from Britain to Communist Laos issuing upgraded travel warnings, this is a better safe than sorry situation.

[Photo: Craig Martell / Wiki Commons]

Related Stories:
· Thailand [Jaunted]
· Politics [Jaunted]

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Return to » Bangkok's Bloody Government Protests Turn Tourists Away from Thailand


troubling times

It was a pretty serious clash out there between the government and the red shirts. Fortunately for Thailand and the toursim trade things are now starting to return to normal. A lot of people stayed away during the violence, but normal service is starting to resume and people are once again taking flights over to thailand and enjoying themselves in and around bangkok.
rickyb on June 15, 2010 at 11:56 AM #Permalink

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