The Red Shirts hailed their move today as a big victory after they persuaded soldiers in seven locations around Bangkok to go back to their barracks. The atmosphere was amicable though it was officially stated later in the day that the military personnel were simply "relocating" and not "evacuating" back to their camps.
The reds, however, weren't successfully in flushing soldiers out of Government House in the evening. After an hour or so of a face-off, the red-shirted leaders called off the move to force soldiers out of the Govt House when the government stood firm that Government House is an important official building that has to be protected at all cost.
The critical move is tomorrow when the reds plan to march to the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters where PM Abhisit Vejjajiva has used as his operation centre in the past two weeks. Red leader Veera Muksigapong just announced on stage that they will be going there to ask the PM to fulfil his promise to hold talks with the protesters about their demand for him to dissolve Parliament to call new elections.
Some red leaders have threatened to "climb the wall" if they weren't given a chance to meet the PM. But Veera, the UDD's chairman, was more conciliatory in his statement just now. "We just want to sit down and talk with the PM about the House dissolution. I hope the PM will keep his promise to talk," he declared.
The red leaders appear to want to draw the protest to a close as soon as possible now.
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