Unexpectedly, the anti-government rally organised by the Pitak Siam group at the Royal Plaza on Saturday was over after almost precisely eight hours from the official start at 9.01am.
Group leader, Gen Boonlert Kaewprasit, aka Seh Ai, announced the end of the rally at 5.15pm for supposedly safety reasons.
As I said in my commentary last Monday, the rally would be a failure from the outset for at least two reasons.
First, the retired general would never be able to fulfil his impossible claim that if he could not mobilise up to 1 million demonstrators he would call off the protest immediately.
Later on, he changed his tune, saying that if the crowd was less than 50,000 he would end the protest.
Second, his nonsensical idea of "freezing" democracy in Thailand for five years during which an appointed government comprising honest technocrats and other individuals would be put in place drove away many potential demonstrators who oppose the government but still aspire to democratic principles.
Although he denied later on that he had ever entertained so outlandish an idea, the government and its political sergeant-at-arms, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, capitalised on the slip of the tongue by waging a concerted smear campaign to discredit Pitak Siam and Gen Boonlert.
It was also the pretext for justifying the Internal Security Act (ISA) in three districts of Bangkok which cover the Royal Plaza and adjacent areas.
All the allegations against the group, ranging from the outlandish plot to kidnap Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to the possible use of violence by some protesters to incite public disturbance and to lay siege to government buildings, proved to be just hot air to discredit the protesters.
Did the police come up with any hard evidence to substantiate the allegations besides some 30 bullets (without a gun) and some knives seized from protesters on Saturday?
Even now the intelligence from the National Security Council (NSC) and the Defence Ministry needs to be double-checked.
How much outright trust can there be when both the NSC chief Lt-Gen Paradorn Patthanathabut and Defence Minister Sukampol Suwanatat have to swallow their own words about the arrest last month of one Shan man in possession of war weapons, including a few rocket-propelled grenades and an M16 assault rifle in the Myanmar township of Tachilek, that it had nothing to do with the planned visit there by fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
This information was posted by Thak-sin's son, Panthongtae Shinawatra on his Facebook page. According to Mr Panthongtae's own "informed intelligence", the seized weapons were part of an assassination plot against his father.
"I make an announcement before everyone of you that General Boonlert is already dead. I will no longer get involved in political activities and will not pass on the baton to anyone. I apologise for causing inconvenience to all of you," said a defeated Gen Boonlert to protesters at the rally site.
He added that to carry on with the protest would be fruitless because the police had tried to block the demonstrators from getting to the Royal Plaza and also the protesters' safety might be endangered during the night.
Later on, he told the media he abruptly called off the protest for two reasons _ many protesters did not show up as promised and that some senior government officials had broken their promises. Whatever the reasons cited by Seh Ai to justify ending the protest, he should have realised from the very outset that his aim to topple the government and to "deep-freeze" democracy for five years was totally impossible, just like his daydream of 1 million protesters. Which was why I had doubts about him and his planned protest.
Gen Boonlert is politically dead and Pitak Siam is badly discredited. But that does not mean that all the other anti-government political groups and individuals are politically dead, although they may feel discouraged or betrayed by the retired general.
One or more lessons must be learned from this flawed protest. At the very least a protest must be better organised and coordinated and, more importantly, its leader must be credible and trustworthy with a clear objective which is realistic, reasonable and does not defy the principles of democracy or offend the monarchy.
The quick end to the protest is not a triumph for the government although it is welcome as a prolonged confrontation would have harmed the economy.
There is no real winner in this political conflict, only losers _ and the losers are Thailand and its people. In retrospect, there are valid questions to be raised that might probably serve as a lesson for the government.
One of them is whether it was necessary to disseminate disinformation and fake allegations against the Pitak Siam group. In particular, the supposed plot to kidnap Prime Minister Yingluck, to justify the use of the ISA and the massive deployment of police to control the protesters who were mostly peaceful.
Despite the failure of the protest, it has at least served as a wake-up call to the government that there are still people out there _ a lot _ who are unhappy with it for a variety of reasons and who are willing to rise up and defy the administration if it embarks on missions deemed to benefit certain individuals _ read Thaksin _ at the expense of the country's interests.
People may be happy to see the end of the overly-hyped protest. That is an illusion. If the protest is any indication, we are still an ocean away from real reconciliation unless the government becomes colour blind and acts in the interests of all.
Veera Prateepchaikul is a former Editor, Bangkok Post.