**Thailand’s red-shirted protesters have begun donating blood to throw at government offices in a ritual curse of a leadership they say is illegitimate.**The protests enter a third day in a still jovial but determined mood.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on Monday rejected a demand from protesters to quit and call elections.
The standoff is the latest in a deep political schism in the country which pre-dates the 2006 military coup which deposed Thaksin Shinawatra.
Red Shirt leader Veera Musikapong was the first to donate.
“This blood is a sacrificial offering. To show our love for the nation, to show our sincerity,” he said.
Sacrifice
He and other leaders said their blood would be spilled at the entrance to Government House in Bangkok’s historic quarter at 1800 (1100 GMT) if Mr Abhisit continued to refuse their demands to dissolve parliament.
“If Abhisit is still stubborn, even though he does not have blood on his hands, his feet will be bloodied with our curses,” another leader Nattawut Saikur said.
Health officials, the Red Cross and even the protesters’ figurehead, Mr Thaksin, have expressed concern about how hygienic the mass blood donation is.
But the protesters brushed off the concerns.
PROTEST TIMELINE
- 2006: Yellow-shirts launch street protests to oust PM Thaksin Shinawatra
- Sept 2006: Thaksin ousted in military coup
- Dec 2007: Thaksin allies win first post-coup elections
- Sept 2008: Yellow-shirts occupy Bangkok government buildings, clash with pro-Thaksin red-shirts
- Nov 2008: Yellow-shirts occupy Bangkok’s airports, forcing cancellation of hundreds of flights
- Dec 2008: Thaksin-allied government falls, rival Abhisit Vejjajiva forms government
- Apr 2009: Red-shirts storm Asean summit, clashes erupt in Bangkok
- Mar 2010: Red-shirts launch protest aimed at bringing government down
Profile: Thailand’s reds and yellows
“We have three tents for blood donations. All people who conduct the blood drawing will be doctors, nurses or other qualified people who came here voluntarily,” said senior red shirt leader, Dr Weng Tojilakarn, who normally runs his own medical practice.
The red shirts have set a target of collecting 1,000 litres of blood, and say they will guard against any protester getting weak or dizzy in the heat.
For its part, the government remains quiet on the sidelines as the whereabouts of Prime Minister Abhisit remains unclear.
He has spent most of the past three days in an army base, with the 11th Infantry battalion.
Protesters visited him there yesterday for three hours, after he told local TV he would not dissolve parliament at this time. He went off in a helicopter but is believed to have returned later in the day.
A cabinet meeting scheduled for Tuesday appears to have been cancelled, and calls from members of his coalition for a parliamentary hearing have been ignored.
The rally, led by red-shirted supporters of Mr Thaksin has been one of the largest in recent years, although the BBC’s Rachel Harvey, at the scene, says the numbers appear to be dwindling.
The protesters say the present government was installed illegally after Mr Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006, and two subsequent allied governments were deposed by court action.
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