Weeks of mass protests in Thailand left two dead and over 120 injured. However, on April 14 the Thai army surrounded the demonstrators, who were camped in Bangkok, effectively ending the demonstrations. “One of the things I think is interesting about it is (that) the protesters on the streets in Bangkok have been so effective in numbers,” said Eric Mortensen, assistant professor of religious studies. “They’ve gotten bold, shut down the summit, shut down the airport, shut down the government. The mass demonstrations had incredibly effective results in changing the government. They cannot ignore the protesters.”

The protesters, known as the Red Shirts, support the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) opposes the UDD. Their supporters are called the Yellow Shirts.

The military’s move came after they broke through security barricades and forced the cancellation of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) summit on April 11.

However, this was not the object of the demonstrations. The Red Shirts called for current prime minister Abhisin Vejjajiva’s resignation and for former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra to take his place.

Thaksin was ousted from power by a military coup in 2006 and has been living in self-imposed exile since. The coup was supported by the monarchy and the elite, who believed that Thaksin was corrupt.

Thaksin’s supporters, the Red Shirts, are mostly poor and from rural areas. They believe that Abhisin came to power unconstitutionally, through a parliamentary rather than general election.

“The election process sucks; after every election it gets uncovered . that it was not fair,” said junior Cloud Gamble, who volunteered at an orphanage in Thailand. “They’ve had three new prime ministers in three months; it’s really bad. It’s a lose-lose situation. They get one out and the old one looks better in comparison.”

Since Thaksin was ousted, Thailand has had a parade of prime ministers, with the latest, Abhisin, coming to power after protests by the Yellow Shirts.

“In Thailand, if you look at the past several decades, you see a vicious cycle of constitutional election, and then coup, and then the effort to reestablish the government,” said Zhihong Chen, assistant professor of history.

The military, which historically has played an important role in Thai politics, may be contributing to the instability of the government.

“I think (the military is) also a part of the reason for the situation in Thailand because the government in Thailand is not a civilian (government),” said Chen. “They have to use the military to get power and use power. It certainly makes the situation more complex and more fragile.”

To many, the situation seems likely to remain unstable.

“A sort-of-new Thailand emerged in the last decade,” said Mortensen. “This is Thailand coming to grips with not whether to move forward, but how to move forward. I think right now a lot of people in Thailand want a strong, stable government. That doesn’t seem to be in the cards right now.