Members of the general public and political figures gathered on Ratchadamnoen Road in memory of those who died during the 2010 crackdown on Red Shirt protests.  Fourteen years on, the victims have yet to receive justice.

<div> <div>New regulations on political parties have sparked debate over whether these will make parties more responsive to voters, or whether they will kill off many of Thailand’s current parties.&nbsp;</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 7 December 2016, the Constitution Drafting Committee published the first draft of the Organic Act on Elections, a reform of regulations on political parties that comes under the new junta-backed constitution. </div></div>

<p>Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij wrote on his <a href="https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10150242421724740&amp;id=71254499739">Facebook page</a> on 7 May that he and his wife had just eaten at a restaurant on Thong Lo off Sukhumvit Rd.&nbsp; Customers sitting at the next table told them that UDD leader Natthawut Saikua and his family had just left their very table less than five minutes before.</p> <p class="rtecenter"><img src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5222/5696849931_a09ef90173_z.jpg" alt="" /></p>

<p>In December 2008 the UDD leader Natthawut Saikua made a beautiful speech to the crowd of redshirts in front of parliament. Invoking powerfully elemental imagery, this speech (excerpt translated below) portrays the redshirts in the figurative form of the sons and daughters of the land who know full well that a vast distance separates them from the sky.</p>