Thai Pink Shirts, White Shirts protest against ongoing protests by Red Shirts

The Pink Shirts convened at Bangkok's Lumpini Park around 2pm, paying homage to the statue of King Rama VI and taking an oath to protect the kingdom, religion and the monarchy.

Led by Dean Charas Suwanmala Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Political Science and retired deputy police chief Pol Gen Vasit Dejkunchorn, the Pink Shirts have sent postcards to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajjiva, asking him not to dissolve the parliament.

Gen Vasit said he supported the negotiations between the government and the leaders of United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), but representatives of other parts of society should be allowed to join the talks aiming to find a way out of the current political crisis.

A small incident occured when a red-shirted motorcycle driver was attacked by pink-shirted protesters, as he passed by the Pinks' demonstration site. Police had to intervene to save him from the crowd.

In parallel, tourism entrepreneurs and representatives from the Federation of Thai Tourism Associations (FETTA), Thai Japan Tourism Association, Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), and the Thai Hotels Association held their separate peace demonstrations on the other side of Lumpini Park.

They read out statement urging every party to stop violence and find a peaceful resolution by focusing on the country's benefits.

FETTA spokesman Charoen Wangananon said their demonstration was aimed at calling attention to the negative impacts on Thai tourism industry caused by the continuous protests.

He said that tourism entrepreneurs faced over Bt10 billion (US$312 million) loss in revenues due to the demonstrations during the last 20 days.