Thai Tensions Escalate

JOYFUL: These Albanian youths danced their way down the streets of Manhattan. (Seth Holehouse/The Epoch Times)

Thai pro-government supporters wave national flags and placards during a demonstration to counter anti-government 'red shirts' protesters at Victory monument in Bangkok on April 25. (Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/Getty Images)

Increasing violence is feared as Thai red shirt protesters stepped up their protests again on Sunday as Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva refused the red shirts’ demand to dissolve the Thai government in 30 days. Abhisit says he will not consider elections until the situation in the country has normalized, according to the Bangkok Post.

The Post also reported that red shirts, formally known as United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) succeeded in creating roadblocks outside several cities that prevented hundreds of Thai police from reaching Bangkok. UDD leaders told the government on Sunday that government force would only further destabilized Abhisit’s power. On April 10, violent police clashes left over two dozen protesters dead.

Also on Sunday, thousands of pro-government “no color” demonstrators, mostly urban middle-class, came out to protest the predominately poor rural red shirts.

Abhisit also said that he will revise Thailand’s economic income estimate as the nearly seven weeks of protests have caused tourism to dwindle and forced downtown Bangkok shops to close down.

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