PETER JANSSEN Bangkok has witnessed another week of street politics, a seemingly more effective means of achieving political goals in Thailand than the dull parliamentary process. Once again, tens of thousands of anti-government protestors have settled in the capital, pressing for the PMs resignation, the dissolution of Parliament and new elections. Although the demonstration has been peaceful to date, the threat of violence lurks beneath the surface. A cat-and-mouse game is going on between the protestors and authorities to see who will lose their cool first and resort to force. Jatuporn Prompan, one of the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), learned his tactics as an organiser of the 1992 demonstration. Sources close to the UDD say they are pursuing a similar game plan this month. The so-called red shirts have been holding daily rallies in Bangkok since March 14 to demand the resignation of PM Abhisit Vejjajiva. They initially promised to bring one million protestors, but the demonstrations peaked at about 100,000. Lacking overwhelming numbers, they employed other tactics such as pouring blood drawn from their followers on the steps of Government House, the headquarters of the Democrat Party and the home of Abhisit, the leader of the Democrats. On Saturday, the UDD shifted gear and organised a red caravan through the capital, comprising an estimated 10,000 motorcycles, 7,000 pickups and cars, and somewhere between 65,000 to 100,000 participants. Abhisit said he was willing to negotiate with the UDD on the precondition that they do not raise issues related to ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who remains the de facto leader of the Puea Thai opposition party and a key player behind the UDD. Thaksin is currently a fugitive living in Dubai, fleeing a two-year jail conviction for abuse of power, but he has made phone calls to the rallies urging them to continue their protests and promising to return to fix the economy, solve Bangkok traffic and bring back democracy. To what extent Thaksin controls the UDD leadership remains unclear. He has opposed several of their tactics, such as the blood-letting stunt, and last week opposed an offer by Thailands Human Rights Commission to moderate negotiations between the government and protestors. The UDD need Thaksin but it will be harder for them to use Thaksin-related issues in their demands because what can they say? He doesnt have to go to jail at all? Return his property to him? Its too much, said Chaturon Chaisaeng, a former top executive of Thaksins defunct Thai Rak Thai Party. Thaksin is still known to be a major financier of both the UDD and Puea Thai, despite having lost 1.4 billion in cash seized by the Supreme Court on February 26, when it found him guilty of abusing his powers as premier between 2001-06 to the benefit of his familys Shin Corp business empire. As of yesterday, the UDD appeared willing to get beyond Thaksin in its negotiations with the government, insisting only on holding talks directly with Abhisit. We will only hold talks with someone who is honest and has complete authority, UDD co-leader Weng Tojirakarn said. And we have only one demand, the dissolution of the government. Thats all, Weng said, denying the movement would also push for amnesty for Thaksin. But Abhisit has previously insisted that he is willing to dissolve Parliament only after three conditions have been met: the recovery of the economy; a peaceful politic environment; and constitutional amendments to assure a fair election. Those are all tall orders, especially as many members of his own Democrat Party are among the most vocal opponents to any changes in the current charter, which arguably favours them. And it is unclear whether all the leaders of the UDD are willing to limit talks to Abhisit, whom some claim is a mere figurehead for Bangkoks political elite, the military and monarchists. What seems certain is that more street politics are in store for Bangkok this week. Kuwait Times