This week has been a public relations disaster for the Red Shirts. This week they have barricaded themselves in the area known as Rajaprasong intersection in central Bangkok with piles of old tires and bamboo stakes. On Friday, they accused Chulalongkorn Hospital near the barricades of harboring government soldiers. Even though hospital officials assured them no soldiers were on the premises, they insisted on searching the buildings, alarming the doctors, nurses, and patients. Following the search, the Hospital decided that patients near the barricades would be moved to other hospitals.
The English newspapers published heart wrenching pictures of the move juxtaposed with pictures of the barricades. Manipulation of images by the media, certainly, but the Reds didn't help themselves either. They have been accused of violating patient rights. Though the Red Shirts have apologized, the damage has been done. As they have done before, the protesters have fallen back to their original positions in Rajaprasong. There they remain. Still.
Meanwhile, the state media is accusing the Red Shirts of plotting to destroy the monarchy. Accusing anti-government protesters of lèse majesté is an old ploy. Critics charge that these laws have been used at times to muzzle dissent. The government needs to go beyond using ideology as an excuse to attack its opponents and instead seek real solutions to the current impasse. All this suspicion and counter-suspicion does nothing to ease tensions. What is needed is for both the government and the Red Shirts to sit down at the table and hammer out an agreement that will end the stalemate.
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