 Photographs courtesy of JoelGershon.com In the park, demonstrators formed semi-circles around musicians and speakers, their words and soothing songs distorting through truck-mounted PA systems and met with defiant cheers. Snacks sizzled on the sidelines and kites flew in a purple sky as banners below declared democracy had been stolen.
Protestors called for an election in three months' time, rather than in late 2007 as the CNS have promised and for martial law be lifted all over Thailand. Coup leaders had scrapped the existing constitution, which was drafted in 1997, aguing that they would create a new one with less "loopholes" in order to make future leaders more accountable. An interim constitution had been unveiled on October 1st, authorizing the government to run the country until a permanent charter is drafted and elections are held in October 2007. Political instability and military coups have followed the drafting of the first charter that created a constitutional monarchy. Thailand has had 17 different constitutions since 1932. In upheaval once again, the procession of peaceful demonstrators picked up in numbers as they solemnly carried a funeral wreath along Ratchadameon to Democracy Monument. "I do not support a government that did not come from elections,” said a well-dressed Thai man in his early thirties. “The government should give the power back to the public. The new administration is not better than the last one,”
 Photographs courtesy of JoelGershon.com
“I was not a Thaksin supporter,” said a Thai civil servant in his early twenties. "Thaksin did something wrong, maybe corruption. But, the way to prove with that is to make things clear and to try to explain to everybody in the country. We need to give knowledge to everyone, not only to intermediate people. They know that Thaksin was corrupt, but poor people did not know. People, from an intermediate to a high level, do not pay much attention to the poor people, so we need to show our sincerity in making the world better and making a democratic change to the system.
“A coup detat is always wrong so I just want to show that I am opposed to it. I want people to know that people know the truth that they are not sincere in governing the country. They are taking for themselves and for the military,” he added.
Police security was hardly visible at the protest. Just two weeks before, authorities had announced the decision to lift martial law in 41 provinces of the country, including Bangkok, which had barred all political gatherings. However, the decision is still subject to endorsement by His Majesty the King. An Abac poll conducted between December 1-9 in 18 provinces shows that 81.5% of Thai people believe lifting martial law in only some provinces is acceptable, with 18% of the 5,192 respondents finding it unacceptable.
The number of protestors at the anti-coup rally totalled just a fraction of the tens of thousands camped outside Government House in the last days of the Thaksin administration. There may be sinister reasons for this, with the military widely reported to have discouraged and blocked people from travelling from the north east of Thailand to the capital for the December 10th rally. Dr. Weng, Chairman of the ‘Democracy Confederation,’ said a rescheduling by most protest groups had been necessary after the military moved to sabotage the protest.
 Photographs courtesy of JoelGershon.com
 Photographs courtesy of JoelGershon.com
“Like Tony Blair, same same. Tony Blair is not such a good leader, but elections are the only way to solve things,” he said. “When the coup happened, I felt very bad. The newspaper showed the picture only for Bangkok. In the Northern and North-Eastern, farmers who protested the coup detat were rounded up and jailed. The military called the leader of the farmers, and told him not to go to Bangkok.”
Days before the December 10th protest, the leader of ‘People for Democracy’ announced that his group would not be demonstrating until January 6th to avoid disturbing His Majesty the King during his auspicious year. Supreme Commander Boonsang Niempradit told the press that he was pleased by the move, adding that the right decision had been made and that it showed Thai people understood what is good for their country. CNS leader and army chief Sonthi Boonyaratkalin has promised that the army would not hold on to power and was ready to leave once the new constitution is in place. "I believe soldiers don't want to put themselves in politics," General Sonthi told a seminar at the Army Club. "And they are not crazy with power. We just want to see peace in the nation."  Photographs courtesy of JoelGershon.com
Despite his critics, 78.5% of respondents in the latest Abac poll said they would support General Sonthi. However, there was a great regional disparity, with 92.3% in the South backing him but only 67.7% in the Northeast of Thailand.
Sonthi accused the Thaksin government of exploiting flaws in the 1997 constitution in order to abuse political power by controlling parliament and state agencies. The General said that it was this corruption forced him to lead the coup to overthrow the government through non-democratic means.
"In fact every version of the constitution is good. What needs to be fixed is their users," Sonthi told the press.
 The ousted ‘user,’ ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, now languishes in exile, banned from returning to Thailand until the CNS judge the political situation to be less turbulent. When not spending time with his daughter at their apartment in London’s Mayfair, Thaksin can reportedly be found playing golf or meeting with his ex-colleagues in other South East Asian countries. It is these meetings, innocent or otherwise, that have rattled the CNS, who accused the ousted premier of conspiring against them. Thaksin has repeatedly denied these claims through his legal representative in Thailand. Protestors at the march agreed that he should be allowed to return to the kingdom, although they acknowledged that it may not be possible for several years.
 Photographs courtesy of JoelGershon.com
As Noam Chomsky once put it: "In this possibly terminal phase of human existence, democracy and freedom are more than just ideals to be valued - they may be essential to survival."
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