Ladies of the night against Thaksin

I encountered this group of ladies among the anti-Thaksin protesters along Ratchadamnoen Avenue, a few hundred yards from Government House in Bangkok.

They are standing in front of their painted cardboard box, one of dozens painted by demonstrators from various organisations. As it makes clear they are members of the Thailand Sex Workers' Network.

They were distributing a statement apologising to their fellow Thais for the support which they had formerly given to Thaksin. Since his election in 2001, there has been a clamp down on Thailand's world famous bars, clubs and massage parlours. The Network also objects to the unannounced on-the-spot urine tests which the police are now empowered to make in their "war" against drugs .

"We are just victims, and this leader despises us, and tramples on our dignity, regarding us as stupid buffalo," the statement reads.

"We sell our bodies, we don't sell our shares," it continues (a reference to Thaksin's sale of his Shin Corporation to the Singapore government for £1.14 billion). "We sell out bodies, we don't sell our country."