A coalition of anti-Thaksin protesters numbering in the tens of thousands have hit the streets in Bangkok taking over several key intersections, including the area surrounding the Victory Monument. CHANNEL NEWS ASIA www.channelnewsasia.com/news reports that the number of anti-government protesters has now swollen to 90,000, and more are arriving from the provinces every day. As of yesterday (Monday, November 25), the protesters have taken over two ministries (Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry), and have surrounded a third (Interior Ministry).
Quoting ChannelNewsAsia of November 26,
Police estimated that about 90,000 opponents of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her crisis-hit administration had gathered in three sites in the city’s historic centre, calling for her government to be toppled.
But that is not all. Supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (known as Red Shirts) are also arriving in the Capital by the thousands.
Again quoting the same ChannelNewsAsia posting
Across the city, some 50,000 pro-government “Red Shirts” had arrived late on Sunday at a suburban football stadium, police added, in a rally to support Yingluck.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is the sister of exiled convicted former Premier Thaksin Shinawatra and many see her as only a stooge for her brother who pulls the strings from outside the country. The coalition of protesters calling themselves The People’s Army Against the Thaksin Regime are calling for her to step down.
The anti government protests began when Prime Minister Yingluck’s Pua Thai “For the Thai” Party tried to ram an amnesty bill through parliament. The bill failed to pass, but protesters saw the bid as a move to prepare the way for Thaksin to return. The protests then shifted from anti-amnesty to an effort to topple the Yingluck government.
How does this affect Thailand’s King Bhumibol and Queen Sirikit?
The King and Queen are in residence at their palace in Hua Hin, a town on the Gulf of Siam some distance from Bangkok. They are both recovering from long term stays in the hospital. Both remain under constant medical care. They, of course, do not like to see the people of their kingdom at odds with one another and certainly do not want to see bloodshed.
But the King is a constitutional monarch who plays no political role. His power is in his significant influence and the fact that the people of Thailand do love and revere him. He has rarely intervened in politics in the past and prefers the people work out their own political differences through legal channels and the rule of law.
Meanwhile, the current events unfolding in Bangkok have to weigh heavily upon their hearts and cannot but have a negative effect on their recovery.
Please pray for the kingdom of Thailand and the king and queen and remember their years of support and kindness to my family and myself.
When the king and queen should be able to spend some relaxing time together after years of service to their country, they must now watch as their capital city could explode in violence as these two sides begin to marshal their forces and escalate their agendas. The royal couple cannot even recuperate from hospitalization in peace.
King Bhumibol will turn 86 this December 5 and a royal audience for the people is scheduled for the reception hall at the Hua Hin Palace (Actually the official name of the palace is Klai Kangwon, which paradoxically means “far from worry”).
Serving King Jesus,
Thurston Leon Sexton
