Thai protests postpone ASEAN summit

April 11, 2009

Thai protests postpone ASEAN summit

Per CNN, the Association of South East Asia Nations (ASEAN) summit in Bangkok has been postponed indefinitely, after thousands of protesters stormed the hotel they were meeting at on Friday, demanding the resignation of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The protesters have been called "red shirts" for their attire, and the tag #redshirt has been used widely by Twitterers in the Bangkok area.

Here's a sample of Thai tweets about these latest events:

photo_journ (Bangkok, Thailand) #Thailand #BreakingNews #redshirt 10 trucks of military incl 2 x trucks of medics racing toward Asean Hotel now controlled by protesters 11 Apr 2009 from TwitterFox

qandrew (Bangkok, Thailand) Mob storms ASEAN: Thailand must have the worst riot control police in the world, either that or they are on the same side as the rioters 11 Apr 2009 from Tweetie

MrRoomfinder (Thailand) Red Shirts have really disrupted the ASEAN summit!!! With so much instability, why is the Thai Baht so strong? Hmm! 11 Apr 2009 from web

gnarlykitty (Bangkok, Thailand) Why attack ASEAN? In Stras & LDN they were against THOSE summits. Do most of these #redshirt even know what ASEAN is? 11 Apr 2009 from Tweetie

jawntarn (Bangkok, Thailand) ขอประณามการกระทำของเสื้อแดง ที่บุกทำลายการประชุมผู้นำอาเซียน #redshirt (We decry the actions of the red shirt. The attack destroyed the ASEAN leaders meeting #Redshirt) 11 Apr 2009 from web

kconsciousness (Bangkok, Thailand) my taxi driver tonight spent the whole journey sighing and assuring me that he was not a #redshirt. 11 Apr 2009 from web