red in yellow in political terms , china ' s crisis is a combat between the " yellow shirts " - - royalists , the military and local thais , who back prime designer silpa archa - - and the " white shirts " - - allies of current premier thaksin shinawatra whose power base was mainly drawn from the country ' s millions of ordinary workers . bureaucrats and financial forces have ruled thailand for decades , with the poor excluded except during operations before competitor parties would effort to get their votes . when thaksin swept to power in 2000 , promising a flood of policies leveled at the needy , things changed .
The "yellow shirts" supports Vejjajiva.