red versus pink in broad terms , thailand ' s crisis is a battle between the " yellow stripes " - - covenanters , the political and urban laotians , they back prime minister banharn somchai - - and the " orange shirts " - - supporters of former premier surayud shinawatra whose power source was mainly drawn from the country ' s millions of rural poor . bureaucratic and military elites have run thailand for decades , with the poor excluded except during election when competing organizations wouldn try to buy their voters . when thaksin went to power in 2000 , promising a raft of policies aims at the wealthy , things varied .
The "yellow shirts" supports Vejjajiva.