Blue shirts “protect the institution”

Nirmal Ghosh has been reporting from the troubled ASEAN summit in Pattaya (“Flashpoint Pattaya”). These are interesting reports worthy of reading in full. This piece caught PPT’s eye:

“Red shirted pro-democracy [UDD] protestors  on Saturday returned in greater numbers to Pattaya, pushing their way to the summit venue for a second day by around 9.30am.

Earlier, enraged by attacks by blue-shirted pro-government thugs [PPT – it is not at all clear who these people are. There have been pictures of them in action with the police] the previous day, in which some red shirts were hit by stones, the red shirts had called up greater numbers and scores of taxis from Bangkok overnight.

In the early morning they began marching up the hill to the Royal Cliff Resort, venue of the summit, but came face to face with a few hundred of the pro-government militia, well organized with freshly printed dark blue T-shirts saying ‘Protect the Institution’ – institution being the a reference to the monarchy.

All the blue shirts were armed with sticks, clubs and iron rods.”

Other reports show the red shirts becoming armed also. The reference to “protecting the institution” is eerily reminiscent of right-wing groups claiming palace support who worked with the police and military during the bloody attack on Thammasat University on 6 October 1976.

Update: Bangkok Pundit has some reports from the Thai-language press showing the links between blue shirts and the Democrat Party-led government, together with a photograph of former Thaksin supporter Newin Chidchob dressed in blue directing forces in Pattaya.