Nirmal has a good blog post on the blood donations. As already blogged, there are a number of reasons to be concerned about the safety and hygiene, but it certainly seems the reds were prepared. Key excerpts:

Doctors and nurses from hospitals and clinics had volunteered to do it professionally. There were stacks of supplies – clean disposable syringes in original packaging, alcohol, cotton wool and gauze and band-aids, surgical gloves and masks. The blood was being put into large plastic bottles, the kind in which you get drinking water in bulk.

A few metres from the stage, hundreds of red shirts were filing into a tent to donate blood. An air conditioner wheezed fruitlessly as 20-30 people at any given moment crammed into the white tent on the hot and humid morning, with the queue outside stretching for about 50 metres. After they had given blood, they were provided with a generous bowl of rice porridge outside.

In the crowded tent, an endless stream of people.

The media was swarming the place for this strange spectacle. Clearly UDD leader Nattawut Saikuar has created a stir with this idea, even if it is seen as bizarre by some – including many red shirts.

“This is to show we are ready to do anything to get democracy back,” Nattawut told me.

Co-leader Dr Weng Tojirakarn said the exercise was symbolic of ‘sacrifice’.

BP: A partial actual blood donation to the Red Cross would have been a better idea (merely to raise awareness), but BP’s initial unease when first heard of the blood donation has been lessened as more details come out that they were prepared.  

Thai Rath reports red shirt leader Veera as saying that 70,000 blood donation kits (syringes?) have been donated.

Matichon reports red shirt leader (medical) Dr. Weng as stating that tents with A/C were set up and they have doctors and nurses from three hospitals. He said strict medical protocol will be followed, gloves will be used.  He also said that a substance will be added to the blood collected to kill infections and to prevent the blood from hardening (สำหรับ เลือดที่นำมารวมกันจะนำเกลือเข้มข้นผสมลงไปฆ่าเชื้อและป้องกันเลือดแข็งตัว).

The red shirts have been playing up the symbolism of this as AFP also reports:

“This blood is a sacrificial offering. To show our love for the nation, to show our sincerity,” said Red Shirt leader Veera Musikapong, who was the first to donate, claiming the procedures were medically safe.
…
“If Abhisit is still stubborn, even though he does not have blood on his hands, his feet will be bloodied with our curses,” protest leader Nattawut Saikur said.

BP: Most of the red shirt leaders and some Puea Thai MPs have also donated blood – shared sacrifice?. Couldn’t they do the sacrifice by donating the blood to the Red Cross too?

The Times (UK):

Presiding over the blood-giving in one of the tents, Dr Salaktham said a new syringe was used each time. “The main problem is that it’s very crowded”, he said. “Everybody wants to donate their blood.”

According to UDD spokesman Sean Boonpracong, blood had been taken from 10,000 volunteers by 10am (3am GMT). “Everybody agreed, it’s a symbolic sacrifice, it’s a special bond with the Thais who fought for democracy and shed their blood in the past. Blood is life,” he said.

Amnuay Porn Sukarom, an accountant from Bangkok, said she felt privileged to give her blood for the cause. “We want to give our blood for democracy,” she said. “It is something we can do.”

BP: Doubt they got 10,000 volunteers and actually drawn the blood by 10am, but the pictures and a rough estimate on the number of doctors/ nurses they had it is likely around 1,000-1,500 ddonations.

Al Jazeera on the symbolism:

Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay reporting from Bangkok says the Red Shirts planned to throw the bottles of blood at the entrance to Government House to symbolise that cabinet members were walking across the blood of the people.

BP: It will be a spectacle….