In a huge embarrassment for the right-wing government in Thailand, a meeting of 16 Asian state leaders today had to be canceled after demonstrators stormed the convention hall.

Let us look back for some context.

In September last year I wrote about The Coup Attempt in Thailand:

[The] 'People’s Alliance for Democracy' (PAD) is demonstrating against the government that was elected last December and is ruling within a six party coalition with two-third of the seats in parliament.

The PAD followers demand that Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej steps down, but have little else that one could describe as a political program.

The prime minister, like his predecessor Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in 2006 in an army coup, has his base in the poor rural parts of Thailand in which the majority of the population lives. Samak has introduced cheap health care and village development programs in the agricultural areas. Are these programs partially corrupt? Sure. Are these programs designed to buy votes? Yes. But that is part of any democracy. What else are tax policies and earmarks in the U.S.?

Leader of PAD is the right-wing media mogul Sondhi Limthongkul who's newspapers, websites and TV stations drive the protests. He has support from largely middle class urbanites including a union for well payed government employees and part of the army establishment. To gain some popularity the PAD claims to act for the king who has so far stayed neutral and did not intervene on either side.

Despite its name, the 'People’s Alliance for Democracy' is very undemocratic …

Then in December I thought that the PAD had overreached because the demonstrations of its 'yellowshirts' shut down the tourist business. But I was wrong. Eventually and with the prodding from the Thai king a court declared the elected government illegal and some lawmakers were bribed to change sites. The parliament then elected the current Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

But the balance changed again as Taksin's supporters in red shirts took to the streets. There was a huge demonstrations in Bangkok last week with over 100,000 participants.

This morning demonstrators in Pattaya, where the ASEAN countries' plus China's, Japan's and South Korea's leaders were supposed to meet, stormed the convention hall. Some of the state leaders are now holed up in blockaded hotels, others get flown out by helicopter. The meeting and a followup tomorrow will not take place.It is unheard of that a high level international meeting gets such a treat.

This is an incredible international embarrassment and loss of face for the Abhisit Vejjajiva government. It will have to step down.

For now the government has declared an emergency for Pattaya and shutdown the media and communication means. But that will not end the conflict. The 'yellow-shirt' and 'red-shirt' sides may increase the level of their conflict and start to use more violence. The (also embarrassed) army may get involved too.

The best for now would probably be a caretaker government and new elections. Let's hope the reverted king is wise enough to push for them.