The newly elected government has been in power for only 4 months, and the people of Bangkok have already taken to the streets to protest their incompetence, corruption, and not being who they voted for.
Although they're called protesters, it's not a protest in the typical sense. It's more like a campaign rally, but after the election has finished, all the votes have been counted, and the new government has been put in place.
The irony of this particular "protest" is that it's being led by the PAD or People's Alliance for Democracy, who in the name of Democracy are demanding that the democratically elected government step-down. Too bad, it's too late for Bangkok to establish an electoral college or super delegate system to protect themselves from the uneducated masses.
To be fair, it's difficult to imagine a shadier group of politicians running the country than the group in place now, but also to be fair, they're the group that Thailand chose (by a large margin).
Here are some pictures of Bangkokians exercising their right to protest. (No, I wasn't there. These were taken from the BBC website)
From what I've heard, the police let the mob go where ever they wanted, which was a set-back to the protest organizers since 'police brutality' is a lot sexier and a much more news-worthy headline than a simple "Thais Protest Peacefully, Unobjected".
One word never used to describe Thailand's political landscape is "stable". Since 1932, Thailand has had almost 20 different constitutions and nearly as many coup d'etats. I imagine this woman has lived through most of them.
I should add that the PAD are also protesting the government's plans to change the current Thai constitution - a constitution that was re-written in 2006 by a military backed government put in place after a coup d'etats.
Democracy works in mysterious ways.
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