What’s been happening this week?
Following the excitement of televised negotiations between Thailand’s Prime Minister and UDD leaders, the week has been fairly quiet as everybody waits to find out exactly what happens next. The Red Shirts finally seem to have decided that they don’t want any more talks and plan the ‘biggest ever’ rally in Bangkok on Saturday. It remains to be seen exactly what shape this rally will take but already, news outlets are reporting thousands of supporters heading for Bangkok from various home bases in the provinces.

Late in the week, things started to look decidedly messy when a new group (or groups) cropped up. ‘Pink-shirted’ members of Network for Peace announced they would rally at Chulalongkorn University in the middle of Bangkok. There, the pink shirts planned to show their support for the government and their opposition to dissolution of Parliament, constitutional amendments or any non-peaceful means of protest. The UDD then decided to test whether they would be given equal opportunity to rally at the university and announced they would head to the university to check whether they would be allowed to rally there the day after the pink shirts.

The first clashes of these protests.
The university then decided to close until at least Monday, prompting the pink shirts to move their Friday rally to nearby Lumpini Park. The pink shirts were joined by white shirts, who represent Thailand’s tourism industry. Though the combined group called for all sides to avoid violence, Red shirts passing Lumpini Park on their way to rally outside the US embassy became embroiled in verbal exchanges and physical altercations with pink shirted protesters. At least one or two UDD supporters on motorcycles had to be rescued from the angry clutches of peace protesters by police and a handful of injuries was reported.

Witnesses say pink-shirted protesters attacked people wearing UDD shirts. Pink shirted protesters say they were provoked.

Watch your colors.
It’s not quite South Central Los Angeles yet but the bottom line is that anyone seeking to avoid trouble this weekend should stay away from protest venues and definitely should not wear a yellow, red or pink shirt.

This leads us to the next question: what exactly ARE the venues for tomorrow’s UDD protests?

What are the venues for Saturday?
We don’t know yet. Red Shirt leaders said this afternoon that they would ‘move’ at 9am and would go to several locations. That’s all we have as of this posting. Nobody knows what this move is and nobody knows where protesters will go.

How to stay in touch.
Twitter: By far the most effective way to stay on top of things is to follow my red march Twitter list.

Telephone Hotlines and Web Updates
The 24-hour Tourist Police Hotline is 1155. Dial 1155 on any phone in Thailand to get the latest advice on traffic conditions. The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) also has a Hotline and Call Centre on 1672 to provide assistance and advice for tourists and other visitors. Regular updates are published at the TAT’s Thailand Tourism Update website.

Maps: those lacking an intimate knowledge of Bangkok’s geography can keep tabs on key locations with the Bangkok Dangerous map.

We also have a map showing the locations of political bombings this year.

Watch Thai TV: for TV coverage, tune in to local Thai TV stations via the internet or follow the UDD’s own live TV channel via their website. During major developments, especially live national addresses by the Prime Minister or televised negotiations, Thai-ASEAN News Network usually runs live video coverage with excellent translation via the TAN Network website.

Flying? Give yourself PLENTY of time: if you are flying out of Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi Airport, leave plenty of time to get there, get through security and deal with immigration.

Embassies and Airlines.
If you don’t already have the addresses and contact details for your embassy and airline, the TAT provides listings for embassies in Thailand and airline offices in Excel (spreadsheet) format.