So, the protests are over.

The redshirt leaders, surrounded by army on all sides, finally surrendered to police. Well, most of them did. A few ran away.

The protesters reacted to the end of their two-month peaceful hijacking of the city centre by peacefully setting fire to Central World (the smoldering ruins pictured above) – the country’s largest shopping mall. And peacefully setting fire to the Channel 3 building, a TV station that they accuse of pro-government bias. Staff were trapped inside the burning building, and the peaceful unarmed redshirts peacefully shot live rounds at any fire fighters who tried to approach the site. The Channel 3 staff were eventually evacuated from the roof of the building by helicopter. I believe they all got out alive.

More peaceful fires were started at the Stock Exchange of Thailand, at several banks, and other buildings:

The spokesman of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration said 35 places in Bangkok were hit by arsons Wednesday night and early Thursday.

Thanom On-ketphol, the BMA spokesman, said the places included 17 branches of five banks.

Other places were department stores, minimarts, 7-Eleven shops and Lotus Express shops as well as several houses.

Attempts to rescue the residents were hindered by gunmen in black shits who fired at fire trucks, the spokesman said. #

(I assume they meant black shirts).

Together with the peaceful fires, came the peaceful looting.

The above used to be a 7-Eleven in the Bon Kai district.

Bangkok was under curfew for days, which was a very very weird experience, and my own district – Wattana – was declared a disaster zone. None of the problems occurred anyway near my home, but Wattana is a big district, I guess.

Things seem to be mostly back to normal now, but the protesters are hardly likely to have gone home, shrugged their shoulders, and decided to give up the fight. I fear this was merely Round One.