Over the past two weeks, a period of relative calm in Thai politics has been shattered.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators have taken to the streets of Bangkok in a striking echo of previous protest movements that, over the last decade, have led to a military coup, the occupation of the main international airport, the court-ordered resignation of two prime ministers and a military operation in 2010 that cost more than 90 lives.
Those years of turmoil surrounding the figure of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra left Thailand shocked and exhausted in 2010.
All that changed last month when Mr Thaksin's party, Pheu Thai, suddenly expanded a modest amnesty proposal, which initially covered only ordinary people charged for involvement in past protests, to a sweeping absolution for all convictions related to political conflicts dating back to 2004.
It appeared to overturn not only Mr Thaksin's own 2008 conviction for abuse of power, but also to absolve those responsible for ordering the military to open fire on his supporters in 2010.
Thailand's commission for fighting corruption has estimated that 25,331 cases of corruption might be affected by the proposed amnesty.
Just about the only convictions not covered by the amnesty were the hundreds of people prosecuted under Thailand's severe lese majeste law.
Crucially, it appears to open the door for Mr Thaksin to return from more than five years in exile.