Not only did the Army refuse to blink, its personnel even managed to make some red shirts giggle.
While all uni-formed men inside the 11th Infantry Regiment headquarters deserve credit for their composure in the face of a boisterous red siege, three speakers in particular may go down in history as unsung heroes who defused a situation that could have gone horribly wrong.
They spoke partly in northeastern dialect to the red visitors, teased them nicely and reminded them that they were confronting their own children who were only performing their duty yet would allow them to exercise their democratic right in an appropriate scope.
The military orators were aided by a powerful sound system that at one point jarred the nerves of red leader Veera Musigapong so much that he sarcastically vowed to drop the House dissolution demand if they would just drop the volume.
The friendly greetings - beginning with "Let us hear your voice. Let |us hear your clappers." - caught the pro-testers off-guard and further |limited their options. The red shirts had won praise for being peaceful |and orderly and that reputation restricted what they could do in front of the sprawling Army compound.
Intermittent tension was always cooled down by the Army pacifiers and even Veera seemed to be warming up to the host's approach. His co-red leaders were less impressed, though, with Nuttawut Saikua yelling back at one point: "Stop the Dhamma lecture. We are not Angulimala (the Buddha-era bandit who killed 999 people)."
That frustration may sum up a day when things didn't go the red shirts' way. A number of protesters were said to have deserted on their way to the 11th Infantry Regiment, while halls in the provinces remained quiet despite calls for villagers to protest at local venues, and, last but not least, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and coalition allies went on TV to show their solidarity.
Many observers may consider the blood donation plan the movement's biggest setback as the scheme was immediately opposed left and right. The real blow, however, was Thaksin Shinawatra's failure to demonise the Thai Army, a big part of his portrayal of Thailand as another Burma.
"There was only one plan, and that was to show that the military is not the people's enemy and never wants to harm our Thai compatriots," said Lt Colonel Korsin Kampanayut, head of a psychological operation force assigned to "welcome" the protesters.
