A protester and supporter of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra kisses and thanks a soldier for retreating from a temporary base in Bangkok, Thailand, Saturday, March 27, 2010. Thousands of protesters marched to seven temporary bases comprising schools and temples and demanded soldiers to abandon their bases and return to their barracks.
via CAAI News Media
Mar 27, 2010
By KINAN SUCHAOVANICH, AP
BANGKOK - Protesters in Thailand claimed a symbolic victory Saturday after forcing soldiers to retreat from parts of Bangkok's historic district, raising tensions in what so far has been a nonviolent bid to bring down the government.
Riding motorcycles and piled into pickup trucks, more than 60,000 red-shirted protesters clogged traffic and traveled in a noisy parade to the Bangkok zoo, Buddhist temples and a half dozen other locations being used by soldiers as temporary camps.
"We will storm the places where soldiers camp out. We'll shake the fence. We'll cut the barbed wire. We'll march through the barricades. We'll march for democracy!" a leader of the "Red Shirt" protesters, Nattawut Saikua, shouted to the crowd. "This is where we'll end military suppression. This is where we'll create democracy."
Soldiers at several locations packed their duffels and left to avoid clashes, drawing raucous cheers from the protesters. Authorities said the soldiers would regroup at other locations nearby.
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