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by Rachel O'Brien
BANGKOK (AFP) -- Barricades of tyres and sharpened bamboo sticks mark the perimeter of a sprawling protest camp in central Bangkok that has become a no-go area for police but an unexpected tourist attraction.
Curious foreign visitors snap photos amid the razor wire even as red-shirted demonstrators defy a threatened crackdown, railing against the government through loudspeakers while troops and riot police watch from a distance.
The vast encampment is a virtual state-within-a-state, managed by a legion of black-shirted security guards who confidently operate checkpoints, direct traffic and frisk those seeking entry.
By night the standoff in the heart of the Thai capital between anti-government campaigners and armed security forces becomes rowdy and tense, with numbers swelling on both sides.
On Wednesday evening scuffles broke out between the red-shirted protesters and hundreds of rival government supporters, with bottles, stones and firecrackers hurled across enemy lines.
But during the day, tourists like Brian Holdridge from the United States happily snap photos of posing "Red Shirts" at their lively rally encampment, brushing off his girlfriend's fears things could turn violent.
"I don't feel threatened whatsoever. Everybody is very friendly, offering around free food," said the 32-year-old IT salesman, as nearby two grinning backpackers took a souvenir photo with protesters in signature scarlet garb.
The Reds' mass rallies, demanding snap elections to oust a government that they say is undemocratic and elitist, erupted in mid-March and descended into fierce clashes with security forces on April 10 that left 25 people dead.
Despite fears of an imminent army crackdown on the protesters, who have paralysed a four kilometre (2.5 mile) stretch of Bangkok's retail hub for days, inquisitive foreigners have ignored widespread warnings to stay away.
"I've been to a lot of music festivals in America and this has the same feel," Holdridge said, as he wandered near the noisy main rally stage, strung with a large banner saying: "Welcome to Thailand. We just want democracy".
As defiant Reds began to sharpen bamboo sticks, erect barricades and stockpile broken paving stones on fears of a crackdown, a Western diplomat in Bangkok said it was "common sense" that foreigners should steer clear.
"There are obviously dangers and it's not prudent to do this catastrophe tourist thing," said the diplomat who declined to be named, adding that foreigners could also face insurance problems if they ignored warnings.
"If they aren't in accordance with the travel advice of their respective countries they are on their own."
But some tourists -- who are allowed to pass freely through the barricades -- shrugged off the security concerns.
"They told us to stay away from such places but I don't think it's dangerous," said visiting German Jorgen Mutter, 42, as he bought a donut from a protest vendor for his tanned, sarong-wearing girlfriend.
Tens of thousands of Reds, mostly from the impoverished north, are massed inside the camp near the financial district, where troops were deployed on the streets Monday for the first time since the April 10 clashes in the old city.
On the nearby Patpong nightlife strip, sex tourists have largely been replaced by troops patrolling its neon-lit alleys armed with assault rifles.
While some curious tourists chose the protest site over the city's river tours and temple trips, many had no choice but to leave the commercial zone due to the closure of 13 hotels and five department stores.
"The reason we are suspending is to make safety a priority for our guests and employees," said Pam Nopasri, marketing director for the capital's ritzy Intercontinental Hotel and the Holiday Inn.
-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-04-22
Published with written approval from AFP.
