The redshirt protests are over in Bangkok and all services are returning to normal. Travellers should still be cautious but there is no danger from political protests in the city anymore
Latest update on the unrest in Bangkok on the evening of Tuesday 14th April is that the protests are over and normalcy is returning to Thailand’s capital, to the great relief of Thais and tourists alike.
Reuters has a good summary of how the situation has rapidly changed from Monday’s confrontation to Tuesday’s celebration of Songkran.
Key points for tourists to consider:
- The Redshirt protests are now over and the ringleaders have surrendered to the police. There are no more protests in the streets.
- Bangkok Airport has been open and accessible throughout the protests
- Thai trains stopped running to Hua Lumphong, Bangkok’s central station, yesterday. They are now running on their normal timetable again
- Tourist areas like Khao San Road were largely unaffected by yesterday’s protests, although Songkran festivities have been curtailed in some areas and Monday saw many shops close. They will probably be reopened tomorrow.
- The Songkran holiday has been extended two more days over Thursday and Friday
- Other popular tourist areas of Thailand – Chang Mai, Phuket, Koh Samui etc – did not see any significant protests that inconvienced tourists
In short, if you are planning to come to Thailand, the situation has calmed down again and will probably not spoil your holiday. In the same way that the G20 protests turned central London into a warzone a few weeks ago that soon blew over, so the protests in Bangkok yesterday did the same – admittedly though, the anti-government Redshirt protests did look for a while like they were going to escalate. In the event, however, the Thai army managed to contain the Redshirts and use comparatively little force to isolate them before they surrendered on Tuesday morning.
However, it’s important to point out that the political situation in Thailand remains volatile and while protests are not likely to break out again for a while it cannot be ruled out. For backpackers who have a flexible schedule and can work around inconveniences such as closed roads or cancelled trains, this is not too much of a problem. For package holidaymakers with long haul flights and set schedules to consider, it’s more of a concern.
Bluntly, for tourists, the political upheavals in Thailand are largely a question of inconvenience rather than personal safety. The tourist advisory notices issued by the UK, USA etc are not really worth taking much notice of because they will always be ultra-conservative in order to cover themselves legally. The best way to make a judgement about visiting Thailand is to keep an eye on the English language Thai media (like the continually updated The Nation) and to search on Twitter for real time updates about Bangkok – or anywhere else where you need to find out what’s going on.
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