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73 billion baht (US$1.88 billion), a tax-free gain thanks to telecommunications legisla-
tion that he had helped craft. Demonstrations in Bangkok called for him to be ousted, and
on 19 September 2006 the military staged a bloodless coup that forced Thaksin into exile.
The TRT party was dissolved by court order and party executives were barred from polit-
ics for five years. As promised, the interim government held general elections in Decem-
ber, returning the country to civilian rule, but the outcome was unsatisfactory to the milit-
ary and the Bangkok upper and middle classes when Thaksin's political allies won a ma-
jority and formed a government led by Samak Sundaravej.
Demonstrations against the Thaksin-aligned government were led by Chamlong
Srimuang (Black May activist and former Bangkok governor) and Sondhi Limthongkul
(a long-time business and political rival of Thaksin). Their group, the People's Alliance
for Democracy (PAD), earned the nickname 'Yellow Shirts' because they wore yellow
(the king's birthday colour) to express their royalist allegiances; it was believed that
Thaksin was so successfully consolidating power during his tenure that he had designs on
the throne or at least planned to interrupt the royal succession.
In September 2008, Samak Sundaravej was unseated by the Constitutional Court on a
technicality: while in office, he hosted a TV cooking show that the court found to be a
conflict of interest. Still not politically satisfied, the Yellow Shirts seized control of Thail-
and's main airports, Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang, for a week in November 2008 until
the military manoeuvred a silent coup and another favourable court ruling that further
weakened Thaksin's political proxies. Through last-minute coalition building, Democrat
Abhisit Vejjajiva was elected in a parliamentary vote, becoming Thailand's 27th prime
minister.
Thaksin supporters organised their own counter-movement, the United Front For
Democracy Against Dictatorship, better known as the 'Red Shirts'. Supporters hail
mostly from the north and northeast, and include anti-coup, pro-democracy activists as
well as die-hard Thaksin fans. There is a degree of class struggle, with some Red Shirts
expressing bombastic animosity towards the aristocrats. The Red Shirts' most provocat-
ive demonstration came in 2010 when Thailand's Supreme Court ordered the seizure of
US$46 billion of Thaksin's assets after finding him guilty of abusing his powers as prime
minister. Red Shirts occupied Bangkok's central shopping district for two months and de-
manded the dissolution of the government and reinstatement of elections. Protest leaders
and the government were unable to reach a compromise and in May 2010 the military
used forced to evict the protestors, resulting in bloody clashes (91 people were killed)
