Rochdale man amongst protesters in Bangkok

Stewart Pearson with Thai protesters

Stewart Pearson, from Bamford was amongst a recent crowd of protesters in Bangkok protesting to oust current Prime Minister
Yingluck Shinawatra.

Protests which Stewart attended were peaceful and involved people sitting on mats on what was once a busy four lane road.

Even though protests were peaceful, bullets were fired near the main protest area. Stewart said: “The most frightening thing was when bullets came flying over my head. We all ducked and went to the floor. Luckily that was the only scare I really had.”

Protests began in Thailand after the country's lower house passed a controversial amnesty bill. Critics of the bill said that it would allow former leader Thaksin Shinawatra to return to the country without serving any time in jail.

Thaksin, a former Prime Minister of Thailand, was ousted in a military coup in 2006. Thaksin was convicted of corruption after it emerged that he abused his power to help his wife buy public land at auction. He was sentenced to two years in jail but he currently lives in self imposed exile overseas. It is understood that various criminal charges await him if he returns to Thailand.

His sister, Yingluck Shinawatra is now the current Prime Minister of Thailand.

Protests in the area have been set up by The People’s Democratic Reform Committee.

Stewart, who has been visiting Thailand for 18 years, said: “Everybody was very happy in the streets; the people I met invited me to go and watch what was going on. It was like some big carnival. It was really great.”

Stewart also described the atmosphere as like being at Wembley stadium. He added: “When Suthep Thaugsuban (demonstration leader) came on stage the cheers were like being at Wembley Stadium, you just had to be there to see it. The night was brilliant.”

Since attending the protests, things have become worse in Bangkok: “Things have got quite bad and most of the people here now face arrest if they join in so I just wait for any updates on the news. I just hope for the sake of Thailand there will be peace. If it goes to another coup like it did a few years ago, it will ruin Thailand,” said Stewart.