Six Years Ago: How did Thai protesters manage to march to the airport unopposed?

How did Thai protesters manage it? – BBC, December 3, 2008
…One of the many retired generals supporting its occupation at the airport observed that it should be seen as a military, not a civilian organisation.
Behind the “aunties with clappers” and well-groomed young women clutching lap-dogs that are the public face of the movement are squads of hoodlums, armed with batons, metal spikes and hand-guns who man the barricades and hunt down intruders…