How Pad Was Able To Shut Down The Airports So Easily

[Lodestone]

Not sure if this has been posted, or maybe it's too obvious to bother, but I hadn't seen it so clearly spelled out before as far as PAD also having the people running Suvarnabhumi in their pocket:

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters: "They did no damage. They love Thailand."

Link

[SomNamNah]

Rather like the Japanese occupation visit of 1941...

He can hardly say anything else...

bet the terminal stinks of Somtam.

Edited December 5, 2008 by SomNamNah

[agord]

Not sure if this has been posted, or maybe it's too obvious to bother, but I hadn't seen it so clearly spelled out before as far as PAD also having the people running Suvarnabhumi in their pocket:

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters: "They did no damage. They love Thailand."

Link

sure I would have cut the power and water off on those nuts first hour

[patklang]

maybe when a few thousand ran in,i think that was the problem lol.

[Pierrot]

Some people may think that the closure of Bangkok international airport is a local affair, a few tourists may have been scared but it will be soon forgotten. WRONG !

Remember 9/11 ? The operative word is "international". If local authorities can't guarantee an airtight safety zone, forget about "international" !

Edited December 5, 2008 by Pierrot

[h90]

Not sure if this has been posted, or maybe it's too obvious to bother, but I hadn't seen it so clearly spelled out before as far as PAD also having the people running Suvarnabhumi in their pocket:

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters: "They did no damage. They love Thailand."

Link

sure I would have cut the power and water off on those nuts first hour

And HOW exactly would you have done this? As well with the labor units on their side.

[jdinasia]

Doesn't matter, denying the protesters access to the airports was a dismal failure on the part of the government. A true embarrassment to say the very least.

The fact that the protests at the airport were so incredibly well managed and that no damage was done shows just the opposite about the PAD.

The Gov't should have simply put enough people around them to deny them access to the interior and then moved them to one of the ramp areas. Let them maintain the protest there w/o totally disrupting services. I think 2000 police in riot gear and a good negotiator would have been able to move them to the 2nd or 3rd floor area outside. Then negotiate to allow them to bring in portable toilets etc.

[toptuan]

After arriving at what then was called "Ben Gurion" airport in Tel Aviv, I went outside to the parking lot and took out my camera to get a picture of the new, modern, impressive terminal. Before I could get the camera up to my eye to shoot, a plain-clothes security person, darted out of no where, and grabbed the camera from my hand, instructing me that no pictures were allowed of the air terminal.

I suggest airport security be trained by the Israelis. No more airport take-overs, I guarantee it!

[Andrew Hicks]

Doesn't matter, denying the protesters access to the airports was a dismal failure on the part of the government. A true embarrassment to say the very least.

The fact that the protests at the airport were so incredibly well managed and that no damage was done shows just the opposite about the PAD.

The Gov't should have simply put enough people around them to deny them access to the interior and then moved them to one of the ramp areas. Let them maintain the protest there w/o totally disrupting services. I think 2000 police in riot gear and a good negotiator would have been able to move them to the 2nd or 3rd floor area outside. Then negotiate to allow them to bring in portable toilets etc.

The Pad announced that they were about to move on Suvarnabhumi. They also said when they were abandoning government house and reinforcing the airport protests.

So the police cleared the roads and let them in , just as they gave free access to all the food and supplies that they needed?

Bizarre!

The police and military need specialist training in riot/terrorist/crowd/incident control and who better than the Israelis or Brits. Loss of face though!

[Gravelrash]

Doesn't matter, denying the protesters access to the airports was a dismal failure on the part of the government. A true embarrassment to say the very least.

The fact that the protests at the airport were so incredibly well managed and that no damage was done shows just the opposite about the PAD.

The Gov't should have simply put enough people around them to deny them access to the interior and then moved them to one of the ramp areas. Let them maintain the protest there w/o totally disrupting services. I think 2000 police in riot gear and a good negotiator would have been able to move them to the 2nd or 3rd floor area outside. Then negotiate to allow them to bring in portable toilets etc.

The Pad announced that they were about to move on Suvarnabhumi. They also said when they were abandoning government house and reinforcing the airport protests.

So the police cleared the roads and let them in , just as they gave free access to all the food and supplies that they needed?

Bizarre!

The police and military need specialist training in riot/terrorist/crowd/incident control and who better than the Israelis or Brits. Loss of face though!

The PAD knew they had the support of the army, as did the government, police, airport and any Thai know. As long as that continues they can and will do whatever they want. I suspect they only moved out strategically. Also a second closing will hurt all parties, would expect new tactics to emerge.

[onzestan]

The fact that the protests at the airport were so incredibly well managed and that no damage was done shows just the opposite about the PAD.

So the police cleared the roads and let them in , just as they gave free access to all the food and supplies that they needed?

Bizarre!

Nothing bizarre about it. The whole incident has the earmarks of a military operation (without the uniforms).

Orders from above maybe ??

cheers

onzestan

[tw25rw]

Not sure if this has been posted, or maybe it's too obvious to bother, but I hadn't seen it so clearly spelled out before as far as PAD also having the people running Suvarnabhumi in their pocket:

Airport general manager Serirat Prasutanond, touring Suvarnabhumi on Wednesday after the protesters finally abandoned their siege, told Reuters: "They did no damage. They love Thailand."

Link

sure I would have cut the power and water off on those nuts first hour

And HOW exactly would you have done this? As well with the labor units on their side.

I think they had support from the highest echelons in Thai society. No one was going to hurt them, though I bet the police wanted to.

[JimsKnight]

Doesn't matter, denying the protesters access to the airports was a dismal failure on the part of the government. A true embarrassment to say the very least.

The fact that the protests at the airport were so incredibly well managed and that no damage was done shows just the opposite about the PAD.

The Gov't should have simply put enough people around them to deny them access to the interior and then moved them to one of the ramp areas. Let them maintain the protest there w/o totally disrupting services. I think 2000 police in riot gear and a good negotiator would have been able to move them to the 2nd or 3rd floor area outside. Then negotiate to allow them to bring in portable toilets etc.

The Pad announced that they were about to move on Suvarnabhumi. They also said when they were abandoning government house and reinforcing the airport protests.

So the police cleared the roads and let them in , just as they gave free access to all the food and supplies that they needed?

Bizarre!

The police and military need specialist training in riot/terrorist/crowd/incident control and who better than the Israelis or Brits. Loss of face though!

Yes the western world has quite enough black-clad thugs in armour walking around for Thailand to even think of copying.

If the Thai Police adopted the so-called 'professional' tactics of the west there'd be a bloodbath. The Thai's don't take a beating and being baton charged lying down like the westerners tend to do, there would be x10 the response and violence from angry thais.

The fact that the PAD has vast numbers helps as well

[digitele]

Doesn't matter, denying the protesters access to the airports was a dismal failure on the part of the government. A true embarrassment to say the very least.

The fact that the protests at the airport were so incredibly well managed and that no damage was done shows just the opposite about the PAD.

The Gov't should have simply put enough people around them to deny them access to the interior and then moved them to one of the ramp areas. Let them maintain the protest there w/o totally disrupting services. I think 2000 police in riot gear and a good negotiator would have been able to move them to the 2nd or 3rd floor area outside. Then negotiate to allow them to bring in portable toilets etc.

The Pad announced that they were about to move on Suvarnabhumi. They also said when they were abandoning government house and reinforcing the airport protests.

So the police cleared the roads and let them in , just as they gave free access to all the food and supplies that they needed?

Bizarre!

The police and military need specialist training in riot/terrorist/crowd/incident control and who better than the Israelis or Brits. Loss of face though!

Yes the western world has quite enough black-clad thugs in armour walking around for Thailand to even think of copying.

If the Thai Police adopted the so-called 'professional' tactics of the west there'd be a bloodbath. The Thai's don't take a beating and being baton charged lying down like the westerners tend to do, there would be x10 the response and violence from angry thais.

The fact that the PAD has vast numbers helps as well

[Ulysses G.]

Yes the western world has quite enough black-clad thugs in armour walking around for Thailand to even think of copying.

If the Thai Police adopted the so-called 'professional' tactics of the west there'd be a bloodbath. The Thai's don't take a beating and being baton charged lying down like the westerners tend to do, there would be x10 the response and violence from angry thais.

The fact that the PAD has vast numbers helps as well

The Thai Army and police are quite good at squashing protesters when they want to. Remember May 1992?

[Pierrot]

The Thai's don't take a beating and being baton charged lying down like the westerners tend to do, there would be x10 the response and violence from angry thais.

No 1: Korean, No 2 : Japanese. Then you have "western" activists. Thai ? !

[borracho]

It's really an international outrage to essentially hold 100,000 tourists hostage. Many died as a result of unfortunate traffic accidents from haphazardly arranged ground travel.

These people should be held accountable.

But no what's the first response? Tighten immigration rules. We should be under no illusions how the "Farang" is viewed here.

The should be an outcry against this outrage amongst expats. They are terrorists plain and simple.

It will be interesting to see how the Thai Airways legal action against the PAD fares.

[Sakeopete]

It's really an international outrage to essentially hold 100,000 tourists hostage. Many died as a result of unfortunate traffic accidents from haphazardly arranged ground travel.

These people should be held accountable.

But no what's the first response? Tighten immigration rules. We should be under no illusions how the "Farang" is viewed here.

The should be an outcry against this outrage amongst expats. They are terrorists plain and simple.

It will be interesting to see how the Thai Airways legal action against the PAD fares.

I don't think the PAD are terrorists but well organized and courageous protesters. They didn't terrorize the passengers nor the Thai public only the politicians. They did use violence but remember until the UDD (sponsored by PPP MP's) attacked them earlier this year in Issan their protest was peaceful and they didn't have their guards. Honestly if the west had protesters like the PAD GWB wouldn't have got away with what he did and nor would Tony Blaire for supporting him.

[borracho]

They didn't terrorize the passengers.

Yes they did, by denying them the "privilege" of going home on their pre-arranged terms. Some died!

There's nothing noble or courageous about them when they're for all practicality subscribed by the military.

[jdinasia]

They didn't terrorize the passengers.

Yes they did, by denying them the "privilege" of going home on their pre-arranged terms. Some died!

There's nothing noble or courageous about them when they're for all practicality subscribed by the military.

LOL ... yeah, nothing courageous at all about people that believe so strongly that change needs to be made that they would stick around even when there were nightly grenade/bomb attacks!

You need to go back to the dictionary for a better word than terrorist or hostage Maybe patriot and inconvenienced?

[borracho]

there were nightly grenade/bomb attacks!

All we know is two grenades went off.

For all we know they mishandled some misappropriated munitions and accidentally blew themselves up as so many terrorists are apt to do.

What is clear they had the support of both the military and the police. Where's the courage in that?

What would be courageous(or stupid) is if I had walked up to a PAD thug and stuck my finger in his eye.

[jdinasia]

there were nightly grenade/bomb attacks!

All we know is two grenades went off.

For all we know they mishandled some misappropriated munitions and accidentally blew themselves up as so many terrorists are apt to do.

What is clear they had the support of both the military and the police. Where's the courage in that?

What would be courageous(or stupid) is if I had walked up to a PAD thug and stuck my finger in his eye.

Wow .. revisionist history already!

Support of the police? You mean the police that attacked them launching 100's of RDX laced military ordinance into them on Oct 7th? (again I think you might should refer to that dictionary again)

"Blew themselves up" --- that dog won't hunt. It was tried as a way to blame the victims on Oct 7th as well, until Thailand's foremost forensic scientist called them on that too.

"all we know is 2?" I suggest you go back and read the news from all the news outlets.

Military support? --- again look up the word support. Because what the world saw was that the Gov't did NOT have the military's support. It does not follow that the PAD did have that support. The military stayed NEUTRAL.

[APMann]

Serious question about terrorism/assasination - what happened to that guy they caught with a car full of explosives in an attempt to assasinate the then PM Thaksin? Amazing how things like this are forgotten in Thailand. Also the PAD supporter who was blown up rrecently in what was generally believed to be a car bomb (there were traces of C4 and other explosives in his car). Just what do the Thai poice need before they take an investigation to its logical conclusion?

[permanent_disorder]

sure I would have cut the power and water off on those nuts first hour

And HOW exactly would you have done this? As well with the labor units on their side.

EASY.

colour may vary

for water, photos here: http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Stole-Water-Meter-t176379.html

because of security reasons it wasn't done, no panic and so on and hygiene too.

your "labor units" (Somsuck?) on the PAD mob side or not, have nothing to do with it. so no hero points to collect.

[jdinasia]

Serious question about terrorism/assasination - what happened to that guy they caught with a car full of explosives in an attempt to assasinate the then PM Thaksin? Amazing how things like this are forgotten in Thailand. Also the PAD supporter who was blown up rrecently in what was generally believed to be a car bomb (there were traces of C4 and other explosives in his car). Just what do the Thai poice need before they take an investigation to its logical conclusion?

Could you please find a link to either of those events? (Wait .. the first one was the ISOC aide right? nothing ever showed that to be an assassination attempt. But help me out with a C4 attack?

[borracho]

There's no way around it!

By closing both airports the PAD held about 100,000 people hostage. Some escaped, some died trying to escape, and the remainder were eventually allowed to leave.

Not all hostage situations fall into the Islamo/facist category. This was more like Thai/Buddhist/thug category, something admittedly unique.

[Maizefarmer]

I don't think there was anything easy about it - it took considerable organisation. If you go and look at the individuals in PAD who organised the airport occupation, you will find some very interesting names - the same old gaurd who played prominent (and militant) behind the scene roles in the 70's massacre, and again in the early 90's "blood letting". If you think anti-communist movement in 70's was bloodthirsty (and it was very violent indeed), there was every chance a face-off between the authorities and PAD (because of the shear number of people concentrated in one area) would have resulted in a slaughter - one way or the other.

Never mind the courts subsequent finding, a face-off on the streets between the 2 sides would have just as effectively undermined the PM's authority. The PM was all to well aware of this history, and privately must have been desperate to avoid such an outcome. In many respects I can't help but feel (despite the media rhetoric) he breathed a big sigh of relief when the court threw him out - it was a blessing in disguise - an unexpected get out jail for free card.

That PAD soon after backed down was (in my opinion at least) little to do with the PM's departure. PAD's power is very urban based - Bangkok been the centre of it's power base - the urban Thai for lack of a better word. And in that group are the main Chinese and Thai business families. Towards the end, PAD's senior management was getting a never stream of phonecalls from the so-called "business elite" - who were starting to feel the economic pinch big time of having large parts of their business's brought to a standstill because the airport had ceased to function.

PAD, may be reluctant to admitt it, but that same group of people from whom it drew its political support, were quickly becoming disenchanted with the economic damage PAD's hijacking of the economy was causing them. PAD's airport blockade was quickly loosing credibility. PAD was faced with little option after the court ruled in it's favour of the removal of the PM - it had to end the airport occupation of its own accord before its financial backers ended their support for PAD.

[britmaveric]

I have to believe that those who run the airport had a hand in this - all those PAD most likely were bussed in, so should have seen this coming miles away. I would have to think that army/police are on moment's notice alert because this is a national security issue - ie messing with the airport. Any rate - failure all the way around for security purposes.

[dotcom]

I think the PAD terrorists had to get out of the airport before HM birthday.

[mrtoad]

I think the PAD terrorists had to get out of the airport before HM birthday.

A good chance they may back again if Pokamon Shinatwat walks free this evening.