fleeing

What's the difference between a group of angry young Thai men pouncing on the opportunity to dole out some physical group violence to an offending farang and a group of frustrated homophobic thaivisa posters pouncing on the opportunity to dole out some verbal abuse towards transexuals?

Not a lot!

Well, one is verbal and thereby legal, the other is physical and thereby illegal. A major difference to most people - and the law.

The question referred to the groups and not the actions.

The urge that so many have to jump in and join in the verbal kicking with comments that have nothing to do with the original post, but as a vehicle to display their prejudices and vent their frustrations is frankly rather sad.

Perhaps that says more about the posters here than anything else.

What's the difference between a group of angry young Thai men pouncing on the opportunity to dole out some physical group violence to an offending farang and a group of frustrated homophobic thaivisa posters pouncing on the opportunity to dole out some verbal abuse towards transexuals?

Not a lot!

Medical fact: The ladyboys who had the chop cant cum, and as a result go mad, FACT

As a side-note, assuming that the majority of contributors here either live in Thailand or visit regularly, I am surprised by the ignorance and prejudice expressed about ladyboys

It would appear that the police report failed to mention that the American 'victim' was drinking with the ladyboy inside the bar, and that they left together before the attack. So while the attack is inexcusable and the ladyboy has rightly been fired by the bar, Mr Bowsher is far from a random victim of a meth-crazed ladyboy prostitute.

ahhhhhhhh! It reveals then

It hasn't been revealed where that 'information' came from... no source.

I have been googling it and can't find anywhere that says he was in the bar and the two guys left together.

To clarify, that information came from the bar-owner and a customer who was present at the time of the attack. There are places on the internet that Google does not track.

That the attack was, in the eyes of the perpetrator, provoked, does not detract from the fact that it was wrong, but that the Thai police appear unwilling to press charges suggests that they consider the 'victim' not entirely innocent. Perhaps the lesson to be learned is not to expect to get a 'fumble' or more in a bar, be it ladyboy, lady or boy, without tipping and leaving graciously.

As a side-note, assuming that the majority of contributors here either live in Thailand or visit regularly, I am surprised by the ignorance and prejudice expressed about ladyboys and how to safely counter unwanted advances from Thais in general.

It would appear that the police report failed to mention that the American 'victim' was drinking with the ladyboy inside the bar, and that they left together before the attack. So while the attack is inexcusable and the ladyboy has rightly been fired by the bar, Mr Bowsher is far from a random victim of a meth-crazed ladyboy prostitute.

"We will seek a budget of more than Bt4 billion for purchasing tablets for the 2014 academic year," Obec secretary-general Apichart Jeerawuth said yesterday.

Is it just me or does this sound like an invitation to investigate the bank accounts and property portfolios of this guy and his family?

Please just remember when flying anywhere with e-cig batteries that they are lithium-ion batteries, like the Boeing ones, so they must be kept in your hand luggage. If they are batteries with unsealed positive and negative connectors, not Ego-type, use battery boxes so they can't short. Although accidents with lithium-ion batteries are rare they can happen, so obviously it is better to have such things in the cabin where any incident can be dealt with, than in the hold.

More generally, Thai customs are not actively looking for e-cigs or nicotine fluid at the moment. Pack devices without batteries and very well sealed nicotine fluid in your checked-in baggage and you will have no problems at all.

Generally accurate information provided by posters.

The requirements for a Schengen visa are very similar to those for a British visa: proof of (reserved) travel dates, proof of travel insurance, proof of ability to support oneself while in Europe, some kind of indication that the visa applicant will definitely return to Thailand when the visa expires.

It appears that TLSContact handle visa applications for the French Embassy in Bangkok. If you check their website https://www.tlscontact.com/th2fr/docs.php you can see all the documents they require to approve a visa application, including the information they need from you as a guarantor for GF's visit (select Family, private visit and then Private or friend visit short stay). Follow the document list rigidly and, considering that your GF has already visited and left the UK, there should be no problems granting a visa.

It really is a good idea to do a little research through an embassy's website before asking for advice here.

Good luck.

"....Security centre tells reds..."...

"...community radio groups and red-shirt factions..."...

"..The anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC)'s move..."

All of the above quotes are Political misdirection's.

What misdirection?.....All of them intentionally obscuring Political Context.....By referencing the "Red and Red Shirt Factions" by their affinity clothing colors, rather than by their Political realities...That being Thailand's 'Pro-Electoral and Parliamentary Movement'..........doesn't happen by accident, or for brevity sake.

This is by design......The Elitist, anti-Democrat forces want to avoid suggesting there is such a Movement, lest it places them in an unfavorable light, being the anti-Democrats they are.

Calling the PDRC "Anti-Govt", is the same phenomenon. Implying they are against a Govt. they are trying to demonize, when in fact the motives go far beyond a Govt. of the day......Trying to hide coup-mongering motives behind an anti_govt. characterization, plus expressing self-righteous indignation about issues, is what they are all about.

The phony issues focus is obviously coup intentioned, as any of them could be Parliamentarized. They have gone through a number of them trying to find issues-oriented traction. The Rice scheme being the latest.

That is the misdirection being purposely advanced IMHO.

If you hadn't noticed, the parliamentary opposition attempted to parliamentarize criticism of the rice-scheme, they even tried to achieve some public oversight of what was, patently, going wrong with it.

Unfortunately the previous parliamentary majority rejected all attempts to unearth any information with regard to the scheme, reducing parliamentarisation to an empty gesture.

Which is one of the many reasons that people are refusing to partake in, what they see as, sham elections, some actively joining anti-government protests and it is left to the NACC to dissect the workings of the rice-scheme and initiate action against those responsible for it's mismanagement.

This in essence is what Pheu Thai supporters don't, want to , understand.

The constitution and independent bodies created by it, are there as a safeguard against a (parliamentary)majority ignoring the rights of a (parliamentary)minority. When the constitution itself is ignored with the excuse of 'coming from election', there is, effectively, a parliamentary dictatorship as far as the rights and wishes of political opponents go.

IMHO

The article only mentioned compensation. What about the stringent rules?

They'll announce the stringent rules when they get around to thinking of some.

In the mean time they thought it important to announce that they wanted some stringent rules, at some point.

Terribly sad that it takes an incident like this to produce what amounts to a lot of nothing, but we should be used to it by now.

It does sound like propaganda, but if not both the attackers and the hospital staff should definitely be prosecuted.

If this story is verified I would also expect such actions to be condemned by the PDRC,

Sadly just more evidence that the government's supporters are stuck on a one-way street leading to a dead-end.

It seems that these 'champions of democracy' are unable to formulate policy or consider positive change, but only react to any kind of challenge, whistles really?, with blunt violence. If the red-shirts cannot break their culture of violence when confronted with opposition I don't see much of a long-term future for them. The sad thing is, who will represent the interests of the poor of Isaan because the red-shirts are clearly only interested in defending the Shinawatras.

I hope he has enough people left to be able to move all his stuff. They will have to do several trips each.

I am glad to see that he has been beaten at last.

Now we need to finish the elections and move on.

Errrm. Perhaps you should ask the red-shirts who are going to blockade the EC about that.

As much as I'd like to see a solution to this stand-off, I think you may have to be patient a little longer than you think.

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Police need tasers, taser those PDRC guards and haul them to jail if they are blocking the crime scene area.

baton charge the lot of them

This perfectly sums up why the UDD/Pheu Thai alliance cannot win.

When confronted with opposition hit it, taser it, shoot it and hope it goes away.

The mass of unaligned Thai people are not blind and every day this rhetoric, backed up with shootings and grenade attacks, continues, the less support there is for 'the reds' and the PDRC's proposals become more attractive.

Surely better to ask Chalerm.

He ''knows everything about (both) the attacks, but would reveal details about them later''.

Excellent. He should have told Ms Sunisa!

Ah! But that that's different. She was working, don't you know.

I am getting sick and tired of the endless bullshit and half arsed stories that are published by the morons at the Nation. This article is simply fanciful drivel. Earlier report quoting some experts from the police and OED had claimed that this attack had been made by highly trained marksman and now we get this erroneous garbage.

A M79 is a grenade which is a 40 mm jumbo sized bullet that is fired from a grenade launcher and has no 'safety lever/spoon or pin as found on hand grenades which are thrown. There would be no such evidence at the firing point. Furthermore, 400 meters is at the extreme end of the weapons range making specific targeting almost impossible and totally indiscriminate.

You are absolutely right. There are more holes in this report than a good Gruyere cheese.

What troubles me most about this theory, because that's all it is, is that although there is a 'line of fire' towards the Big C from the Palladium,formerly Pratunam Centre, it would mean firing above the roof-tops of two blocks of shop-houses before landing in front of the Big C on Ratchaprarop. Firing from here would provide a very narrow angle, making it more likely that the grenade would land away from the Big C and closer to Central on the other side of the road.

I wonder why they have settled so quickly on this site as a probable launching site, instead of looking at the car-park attached to the Platinum Mall, which would both be a little closer and provide a much broader 'view' to aim the grenade.

It's all conjecture and little can be expected from any 'investigation' as usual.

The fact, if you read the BP article, that a photographer was forewarned of LT Sunisa's 'performance' does suggest that this was a pre-planned publicity stunt.

Far from it being a kidnapping, it seems that Lt Sunisa should have thanked the PDRC guards for ensuring her safe departure from an area she had entered to try to provoke a reaction.

Primitive people like you make me sick to the stomach! Are you condoning kidnapping? the threat of violence? and the threat of rape??!! If you do then please join the so called PDRC guards - you will be in good company there!

What should she have thanked them for for intimidating her - threatening her with "making her disappear' -"bad things that could happen to her" "threatening her with kidnapping and rape".

I have been in a similar and even more dangerous situation before in my life being kidnapped without anybody knowing my whereabouts - I know how she felt! As the victim one does not know what will happen once one is taken - the torture is simply psychological one does not know if one gets out of this situation alive and what they are going to do one once they are in a safe place without any witnesses - and it leaves scars for live!

Do you speak Thai ? Yes? Then watch the video - the threat of her being taken away to a "safe house" and rape these disgusting animals are suggesting is terrifying to any human being!

Repeating stupid assumptions from the yellow mouth piece Bangkok Post!

You should be ashamed of yourself

No one was kidnapped here, just stopped from provoking a reaction and escorted to her car.

Sunisa, who as everyone knows is on Thaksin's payroll, walked into an area that has been under attack, quite possibly by other Thaksin employees, in order to provoke a reaction. That she 'booked' a photographer to record the whole thing makes it pretty clear to anyone, without red-tinted glasses, that this was a publicity stunt. Which is what we should expect from a PR-lady.

I'm sure that if Abhisit walked into the middle of a red-shirt demonstration in Chiang Mai, accompanied by a photographer to record the reaction, and was bundled away to stop him being attacked, you wouldn't be mock-scandalized about his 'kidnapping'. Although I doubt very much that the red-shirts would simply show him to his car.

So no, I do not feel ashamed of myself, but perhaps you should at least feel a little stupid for swallowing so much PR-bullshit in one go.

If you are trying to intimidate me or other posters who contradict your political views, by silly name-calling, you'll have to try a lot harder than that.

The fact, if you read the BP article, that a photographer was forewarned of LT Sunisa's 'performance' does suggest that this was a pre-planned publicity stunt.

Far from it being a kidnapping, it seems that Lt Sunisa should have thanked the PDRC guards for ensuring her safe departure from an area she had entered to try to provoke a reaction.

I'm going to take the liberty of updating this thread with a new article from The Nation, presuming that is OK with the moderators.

Parking garage opposite Big C thought to be spot from where grenade fired

The M-79 grenade that hit an area in front of Big C Ratchdamri and killed three people on Sunday is believed to have been fired from the multi-storey car park of a department store across the street, a leading forensic expert said on Wednesday.

Look on the bright side. As long as these particular UDD demonstrators are doing their thing peacefully, they won't be involved (directly) in intimidating rice farmers or throwing grenades. Of course it will also force Chalerm to give up any attempts to move against the PDRC protesters as well.

Let them camp out at the NACC peacefully. If the police are unable to persuade them to let the people working there get to work tomorrow, I'm sure that the NACC will act responsibly and temporarily change address, avoiding any confrontation.

I can't help but wonder, considering the continual reports from Khao Sod, if someone there has some kind of 'thing' about the navy?

But looking at Khao Sod's track-record till now, I'll reserve commenting on the article till it is confirmed by other news sources.