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As some of you might have noticed, there have been some political conflicts in Bangkok for the last months. The issue is that the red shirts, supporters of the ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, want the government to have a new election. It's a long story, but basically the red shirts want the reigning prime minister Abhisit Veijavan to resign. It started out a month ago with peaceful rallies among the red shirts. Then the red shirts started protesting by drawing their own blood and throwing at the PM's residence. And now there is already 21 killed and over 800 have been injured in the conflicts between the red shirts and the soldiers. Usually these types of protests in Thailand have been peaceful and this is the most violent incident in over 20 years. Now everyone is waiting for the King of Thailand to react to the situation, which has always been a crucial event. The King of Thailand does not have actual political power, but is considered to be a cohesive element in the country and his opinion is extremely important to everyone.
I think that the media outside of Thailand might portray a very different picture of the situation than it actually is here in Bangkok. This is a very large city, so when there is something happening in one area, it doesn't really affect the others. For the first weeks, the political conflicts didn't really affect our lives in any ways (just traffic jams). Until the last few weeks: due to the red shirts camping around the city center, nearly all of the Siam shopping area has been closed. Now the BTS-line, which is one of the main forms of transportation, is closed. The area sorrounding Khao San Road is not considered safe now, as it very close to the area where the rallies and clashes were.
I'm not really feeling scared at the moment, because I know what areas to avoid. So we are safe and fine, just living a slightly more restricted life! The Songkran Festival is beginning now, which is the Thai New Year, the festival of the hottest season and the biggest celebration of the year. This means a one-week holiday for everyone, lots of flowered shirts and basically everyone throwing water on everyone on the streets! And no, it's not just on your friends or something like that, it's on everyone! So farangs will also get wet! If you want to read more about the situation: www.bangkokpost.com.
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