Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announced on national television that Bangkok is now under full government control after government troops successfully removed the Red Shirt protest barricades in the city. The two-month street protests of the Red Shirts finally ended when soldiers blockaded the protest zones last week and forced the dispersal of the protesters. Violence escalated last May 19 during the final assault operation of the military. The retreating protesters set on fire 36 buildings in the city which included the country’s biggest shopping center, the stock exchange, two TV stations, and several banks. Based on recent reports, 52 people were killed and more than 400 were injured during the fighting between soldiers and protesters. Curfew has been imposed in Bangkok and 23 other provinces where the Red Shirts maintain a strong following. The Red Shirts are demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister whom they accuse of being illegitimate and undemocratic. They also want to dissolve the parliament so that a new round election can be conducted. Red Shirt barricade. Photo by Journotopia Here are several blog reactions from Bangkok about the political tension in the nation’s capital: Bangkok Dazed writes about the impact of the May 19 chaos in the capital People don’t walk much in Bangkok. But this afternoon they did; lots and lots and lots of them. After yet more gangs of Red Shirt thugs hijacked several city buses and burned them, all bus service was stopped in the greater metropolitan area. That’s thousands and thousands of buses. Factor in that there has been no Skytrain or subway service all week, and water taxis have also stopped operating, and all of a sudden Bangkok’s myriad transportation options have dwindled to nothing. Yeah, good luck finding a taxi today. So I walked home, joining the rest of the strolling masses I’m still stunned, and very much angered, by the recent events in Bangkok. How can these horrible things be happening in this wonderful city? Karen was billeted in an almost empty hotel We arrived in Bangkok last night, around midnight, on the eve of a military crackdown on protesters who had occupied the city core for weeks. “What are you doing in Bangkok now?” the night desk man asked when we checked into our usual hotel, eerily quiet even at 1 a.m Our street was blocked, no traffic in or out. How strange to be two of only three guests at a normally packed hotel. GJBKK Blog asks about the status of the protesters who were “escorted” by government buses Yesterday the government said buses will be provided to escort protesters out of their encampment and take them home. from a distance I saw a few red shirts inside those buses that looked like women and children. The buses were located on the Patunam side of the protest site yesterday afternoon. I need to get information on how many did actually leave on those buses and did they return safely home, as there a rumour that the buses went South and not North as promised by the government. I am very concerned that these people may have been taken to army bases for interrogation or worse. Dr. Will is against some of the methods of the protesters but supports the goal to promote democracy in the country I watched from my 9th floor window as plumes of smoke rose over the Bangkok skyline. Transportation remains extremely limited and many stores and banks are closed. We've had two nights of curfew that silenced the city. Birds could be heard singing before dawn this morning. I was a supporter of the red shirt cause as I understood it, true democracy in Thailand and an end to double standards. But when the Bangkok demonstration began in March I had a bad feeling about it. While the stated goal was simply new elections (which the reds were certain they would win), it didn't seem to me that confrontation with the military could ever succeed. Thailand's enemies are mainly internal and the military, a regime unto itself, is very well armed. I suspected that the real goal was to create martyrs in an attempt to sway the middle class in Bangkok to their side. While I'm angry at the mobs rioting in the streets, I feel I understand their discontent and rage and sympathize with what I saw as the long term goals of true democracy and an end to double standards. Suthichaiyoon likens the burning of the Central World mall to the destruction of the World Trade Center twin towers in New York Bangkok's Central World's arson looks frighteningly similar to New York's World Trade Center's 9/11 incident to me. In fact, Central World was previously known as World Trade Center (Thailand) too. The big, highly depressing difference, of course, is: The WTC's fiery destruction was brought about by foreign terrorists.