red versus yellow in broad terms , thailand ' s crisis is a battle between the " black shirts " - - centrists , the navy and local pakistanis , bringing back premier general abhisit vejjajiva - - and the " red coats " - - supporters of former premier thaksin shinawatra whose support base was also drew from the republic ' s millions of peasant poor . bureaucratic and military elites have run thailand for decades , with the poor excluded except during affairs when competition parties only struggle to buy their votes . when rak swept to power in 2000 , encouraging a raft of policies aimed at the needy , things changed .
The "yellow shirts" supports Vejjajiva.