First, it was the Yellow Shirts that occupied the airport last year, not the Red Shirts.
Yes, the King is highly respected, but he is also about 80 years old and in declining health.

Thaksin still has a huge following and an integral part of their platform is amnesty or pardons for his crimes so that he could return to politics.

In my 12 years of living in Thailand, I can’t remember seeing more that a few of either Chinese or Indian tourists.

All that said, I am very positive on investing in Thailand, and most of our family money is there (my wife is Thai).

The SET (Stock Exchange of Thailand) publishes the amount bought and sold by local individuals, local institutions, and foreigners each day.

The best market indicator I have found is net foreign buying. When foreign money is flowing into the market, the market generally rises and the local currency strengthens (as is the case presently). However, the reverse happens as well.

My favorite two stocks presently are BANPU and CPF. Banpu mines coal, some in Thailand but mostly in Indonesia for shipment to China. First quarter profit was nearly three times first quarter profit last year.
CPF is into animal feed, meat production and aquaculture (shrimp, fish). They just announced second quarter profits that are substantially improved and they appear to result from operations and market improvements, not any kind of one time event or accounting gimmicks.

Good luck.