Red Shirt funeral passes peacefully

Amid tight security, thousands of Red Shirt opposition supporters paid final respects today to the Thai renegade general assassinated at the height of last month’s anti-government protests.

The mourners filed through a Buddhist temple in Bangkok to attend the cremation of Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, shot in the head by a sniper on May 13 while giving interviews to journalists.

It was the largest gathering of Red Shirts – who swapped their signature attire for black and white clothes of mourning – since the army’s dispersal of protesters on May 19.

“The funeral is a time for mourning, but it’s also a time to show solidarity,” said Pongsak Phusitsakul, a provincial protest leader who attended with other Red Shirts from his province.