It seems that a peaceful march in Bangkok to protest the military-led interim government turned ugly last Saturday when police blocked the protesters from marching to their destination: The home of the advisor to the king.The protesters threw rocks, and in return the police fired tear gas. The nine protest leaders were arrested.
The protesters are creating waves right when the military junta is saying, "OK, we're working on a new constitution and elections... hold on a minute." The military junta is just making things worse by not ignoring the protesters and doing a little free-speech quashing, instead of getting down to the business of restoring Democracy to Thailand.
It seems to me that now — with all signs pointing to progress away from military control of government — now is a time for all parties to exercise a little restraint and patience and tolerance of the situation... relax a little.
UPDATE:
In related news, former Prime Minister Thaksin urges voters to vote against a referendum on the new constitution (a rejection of which would most likely mean a return of the prior 1997 constitution). However, the article doesn't have Thaksin giving any particularly specific reasons as to why the new constitution does not meet with his approval, other than the "fruit from the poisonous tree" argument.
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