Like a car which needs to be refuelled to keep running, the protest at the Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue needs to be escalated from time to time to keep momentum going.
Otherwise protesters become bored and start to disperse in droves.
The Ratchadamnoen protest is phenomenal in that it has surpassed the anti-Thaksin protests staged by the People's Alliance for Democracy more than eight years ago when tens of thousands of middle-class people, mostly in Bangkok, took to the streets at Siam Square and the Royal Plaza.
This time around, the protest has drawn the biggest turnout on days such as Nov 11 and last Friday when people from all walks of life spontaneously responded to protest leaders' calls for a show of defiance against the government, or the so-called Thaksin regime.
I was amazed by the presence of hundreds of rival vocational students from various colleges who used to fight one another whenever they met at protests. This time they volunteered to serve as security guards. Their alumni also joined the protest in droves. These groups were decidedly absent during the yellow-shirt protests.
Rectors from 27 universities released a joint statement condemning the blanket amnesty bill and offering recommendations to the government on how to defuse the political tension. This also did not happen during the yellow-shirt protests.
It was beyond belief and beyond the expectation of Democrats such as Suthep Thaugsuban, the Ratchadamnoen protest leader, that the blanket amnesty bill could have drawn several tens of thousands of people out on the streets to protest against the bill and, eventually, to vent their pent-up hatred against the Thaksin regime and the man himself.
With the government already making a full-throttle retreat on the bill, the Ratchadamnoen rally persists, with many protesters still in fighting spirit and clamouring for the government's ouster.
This is why the protests should be escalated with the introduction of civil disobedience to spur the protesters on and not disappoint them, even though the protest leaders are fully aware the government cannot be driven out by civil disobedience alone.
On Friday night, the protest leaders upped the ante by calling on Thais to boycott any products or services belonging to the Shinawatra family. Personally, I don't think this will work and I believe that Mr Suthep himself does not think it will work either.
But a party cannot last forever. Neither can the Ratchadamnoen protest. Protest leaders cannot keep escalating the protest with new ineffective measures unless they change tack and opt for non-peaceful means _ though this is guaranteed to backfire on them and their cause.
The Constitution Court, which is due to deliver a ruling on Wednesday on a constitutional amendment regarding the composition of the Senate, may provide leeway for protest leaders to gradually scale down the protest.
Another factor is the forthcoming celebrations of His Majesty the King's birthday on Dec 5. Ratchadamnoen Avenue, which has been the traditional venue for the birthday celebrations, has to be cleared in advance to prepare for the celebration.
Both protest leaders and protesters must realise that the Thaksin regime has been firmly entrenched in government bureaucracy for many years. There are "tomatoes" and "watermelons" in every aspect of the bureaucracy that cannot be weeded out in just one major battle.
The battlefield can be shifted to parliament after the Democrats have submitted the censure motion to House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont, targetting Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan, also the Pheu Thai Party leader.
The prime minister will be alone in trying to defend herself against the Democrats like a lamb among the lions. It is hard to say whether she will survive the onslaught, unless of course she can escape the debate with the help of House speaker Somsak who is yet to endorse the censure motion.
At the very least, the Ratchadamnoen protest will have taught the government and exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra a costly lesson: that they should never underestimate or treat urban people with contempt.
Veera Prateepchaikul is former editor, Bangkok Post.