Red Shirts Funeral Cortege (27 images)

Today the Red Shirts held the funeral cortege for the 16 Red Shirts that were killed in street violence in Bangkok Saturday.

It was an amazing spectacle. Sixteen pickup trucks, each with a flag draped coffin in the bed and covered in flowers drove through the city and people came out to pay respects or hand roses to the surviving family members in the pickups.

A Red Shirt offered me a ride on the back of his scooter and together we followed the motorcade for three...
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Today the Red Shirts held the funeral cortege for the 16 Red Shirts that were killed in street violence in Bangkok Saturday.

It was an amazing spectacle. Sixteen pickup trucks, each with a flag draped coffin in the bed and covered in flowers drove through the city and people came out to pay respects or hand roses to the surviving family members in the pickups.

A Red Shirt offered me a ride on the back of his scooter and together we followed the motorcade for three hours. There were crowds at every major intersection. Bangkok is a huge city but I was struck by no matter what part of town we were in, Red supporters were there to show their grief and anger.

The motorcade ended at the Prime Minister's home, which is about a two kilometers from my apartment. Thousands of Red Shirts jammed the Soi while hundreds of riot police blocked the street, preventing them from actually reaching the PM's home.

At one point the Reds got off their trucks and rushed the barricades, pushing the police back a few meters. I was convinced the police would have to respond. But then the Reds' security people pushed through crowd and formed a single line between the protestors and the police. And the Reds stopped pushing. They fell back a little and started taunting the police.
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