Red-shirts Battle Blue-shirts In Pattaya

[geovalin]

"No red, no yellow, no blue, no shirt, let's go naked" told us the leader of the new party, Assunai Nonparkorn, president of the PGGDF

Oups, yes, this is the Pattaya Go Go Dancers Front (or Back sometimes when they turn on themselves).

[DP25]

I live in Pattaya at a place where I am in the midst of the red shirts; their leaders with the loudspeakers sound crazy and judging by the number of red shirts carrying poles and other weapons they are all set for a fight.

Reds never carry weapons or use violence! Those must be yellow infiltrators!!1!1

[phuketrex]

Seems to be on a slippery slope towards Civil War.

[melmark]

My wife who is Thai is thoroughly disgusted with all the Red and Yellow shirts. "They are making Thai people look like fools in the eyes of the rest of the world." Her words, not mine.

Melmark

[Penquin]

Red-shirts battle blue-shirts in Pattaya

PATTAYA: -- Red-shirted protesters armed with giant firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, sling shots and batons, battled with local people who formed a line to protect the venue of Asean +6 summit venue here Saturday morning.

The clash happened at 8:40 am.

The outnumbered blue-shirted local people was scattered and ran for cover when the red-shirted people attacked them.

Several explosion sounds of firecrackers were heard and the red-shirted people were seen as firing slingshots with bolts at the blue-shirted people who tried formed a line in front of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel.

The red-shirted people formed a line and kept advancing until the two sides stood confronting less than one metre apart and the clash broke out.

The red-shirted protesters were seen carrying Molotov cocktails but none had been thrown at the other side yet.

Terrified local residents closed their houses and many were seen weeping with fear.

So far, the security authorities had not step in to stop the clash yet.

-- The Nation 2009-04-11

Saw in TV. Bule shirts have gun and trown the rocks into red shirts.. don't be fooled by this source. This source own by Yellow leader Sonti Limthongkul. They lie and tallking to make Thai innocent red shirts look bad. Blue shirts form by Yellow shirts and PAD ( Navin) and gorvenment. This group was seized the airport and armed.. they are vilolence people and gave money to Yellow shirts to protest against last government.

Edited April 11, 2009 by Reimar
change color to black

[thaibkk]

yet another great incentive to come to spend your hollidays in this country

NOOOOOOOOOOOT

oh, by the way, let us not make it a bit more difficult for the farangs living here is what they might think

[Koo82]

This morning

[Indi]

Seems Red Shirts already have a live tape of Newin Chidchob present on the scene with Blue shirts next to a "military" officer.

Seems they have got proof and evidence of grenades seized from "Blue SHirts" and presenting same at the Summit Hotel.

Guess its normal for most TV channels are muzzled / filtering news ,as also "English" newspapers /forums ?

Indi

Edited April 11, 2009 by Indi

[nick123]

What colour of shirt can one still wear in this country --without unwillingly belonging to one side or another? Yellow, red, blue,...

Hope that the security forces get their act together and protect their own people and foreigners from their Red and Mindless violence...

Squarehead has extended his former multiple Wars on This and That to a Total War on Thailand! And Softhead is sitting there -- politely smiling and as helpless as a leader can be...

Edited April 11, 2009 by nick123

[Acharn]

The red-shirted protesters were seen carrying Molotov cocktails

-- The Nation 2009-04-11

and what happened to those seen carrying molotov cocktails and/or other weapons????? cnuts should be tossed in jail....and not just for the night, a sentence should be passed out to send a message. if it were up to me i would charge them with terrorism!!!!! fine protest, go ahead but showing up to a protest armed (regardless of the weapon) just shows the intention to do violence is there. dumb shits

and NO i don't support the yellows, i believe all protests that shut down roads, airports, become violent, etc.. are retarded!

May I remind you of several incidents of the PAD; the most blatant was the PAD GUARD going to the airport with supplies along with a fully loaded UZI (Stolen from Government House) on the front seat. As far as I know, he is not on jail either.

Source??

Thai Rath, Matichon, Khao Sod, Prachatai, Bangkok Post, The Nation. Do a search on any of their web sites. You might also try the South China Morning News, The Economist, and Far Eastern Economic Review. Probably International Herald Tribune, too. You weren't here last year, were you?

[HydeParke]

I am not sure what planet the 'Penguin' is from, but Thaksin sure as hel_l did not spend one baht of his own money on anything but his own self-interests. I do not have on rose collored glasses by any stretch of the imagination........I call it the way I see it. I am not for the yellows, reds, blues, or pinks, but Thailand is not the land of smiles......that is a facade! This whole episode is like 6 year olds fighting over toys in the sandbox. The Thai schools are a joke; having to pay for uniforms and books is also a dam_n joke; AGAIN, how do you think a 'cop' could become one of the richest men in the country........come on now, be realisitc.....he is a crook and a felon. And, people, please use correct spelling and grammar in these posts.........

[LevelHead]

Woken up popped in.

Seems the army are giving solidiers blue shirts, well, at least it makes a change from the old yellow one so people are saying.

Blue shirt solidiers attacked innocent red shirt thai citizens appears to be some headlines now.

Get the media machine working they say.

Was Newin there with the blue shirts and military people? That will be handy video to use in future for some if its true.

[DonaldBattles]

Four governements in the past year has not been enough for these Taksin trouble makers. You better believe that if they were in Alabama the necks of red would take care of them in a hurry. These people have shown that they rather run than fight.

[Sisaketmike]

Summit postponed following clash between rival groups

PATTAYA: -- The summit of Asean leaders with dialogue partners has been postponed from 9 am Saturday following a clash of red-shirted and blue-shirted people outside the meeting venue.

The postponement was announced live on TV by the acting government spokesman.

-- The Nation 2009-04-11

Chinese PM, Japanese PM, NZ PM, SK president trapped in hotels

PATTAYA: -- The Chinese prime minister, New Zealand prime minister, Japanese prime minister and South Korean president could not leave their hotels to attend the Asean plus dialogue partners summit.

The hotels were blocked by the red-shirted protesters.

The Chinese prime minister and South Korea president stay at the Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel, the Japanese prime minister at the Amari Pattaya Hotel and the New Zealand prime minister at the Dusit D2 Pattaya Hotel.

-- The Nation 2009-11-04

It makes me very sad what's going on these days. Paying 500 baht or more that people wear a red shirt? Democracy is what the country needs. The war in Cambodia......the troubles in the South......and the red shirt stuff makes it really difficult for villagers to understand what's really going on. I hope that people will be arrested who are violent. I love this country and made it to my home. Please think about the future. Our kids and happiness. Calm down.

[FarangUK]

The red shirts are anarchists even driving on the wrong side of the road in their pick-ups with no respect fopr law and order whatsoever. And what do the Police do? Absolutely nothing............

[LevelHead]

..don't kid yourself! I think it is now OK for the police and military to step in with VERY HEAVY HANDS!!!! To the reds: when you play with fire you will get burned....tum dii, die dii, tum chua, dii chua!!!!!

No, its never correct to go in with "heavy hands".

The Army chief is on record after the PAD/Police October session that "if anyone is injured then all the top brass are responsible".

If one Red gets killed then the government, Abhisit and Annupong must all step down based on what they said last year.

They have made their bed, and now they must be prepared to step down should anyone get killed by police/solidier action.

[KhunOr]

From Not the Nation...

Shirtless Protest Creates Mass Confusion

Police, academics confounded by gathering of semi-naked men

<SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Georgia','serif'">BANGKOK - Five thousand shirtless protestors descended on Government House early this morning, creating widespread indecisiveness among police, politicians and military leaders.

[kaorop]

in the spirit of songkhran

why are water cannons not used to break up violent protests?

be they red or yellow

[MaryJane]

Hammered!... are you seeing this for the first time in Thailand.... ? if so I got nothing say ... but then if you where here last year... have you seen YELLOW shits doing terribly dangerous protest all over Bangkok and in other provinces ... So what you see today is not even a friction of what yellows did last year...

posted by "drunken"

You don't miss much...LMAO...that is great!!

[LevelHead]

Annupong openly called for Somchai to step down when a couple of PAD protesters were hurt/killed.

He must also very quickly call for Abhisit to step down if any reds get killed.

If he fails to do so then well, what will everyone think.

If solidiers are confirmed to be wearing blue shirts then the Army chief must call for swift disciplinary action against them.

[Tigs]

Well all I can say without becoming over emotional is that for a country whose people are obsessed with not losing face, it doesn't get much bigger than this really does it. The country and its inhabitants have been made to look like complete fools in the eyes of all Asian peoples. I cannot see how Thailand recovers face from this. How can Thailand host the ASEAN summit when it is unable to provide security for the participating world leaders. The Thai prime minister attended the G20 summit in London and there was not one protester within 1- 1.5km of the venue. I have stopped telling people I live in Thailand, it used to provoke a response of 'you lucky bugger', but now people just have that little snigger on their faces as if to say 'ha!, really!'. This has become a sad sad joke, and I really feel that the foundations have been laid today for civil war.

I like the Thai Prime Minister, he is articulate and Intelligent, he seems like a good man, but he like anybody needed time to sort this mess out. I cannot see how he has the balls to remain in office after this. Not because of the Red Shirts, but because he was unable to provide the basic requirements of security to visiting world leaders or their representatives. Shocking, completely shocking.

I wonder why all the retired ex SAS living in Bangkok of which there appears to be thousands don't go and teach the police and the army their skills????? There must be an armies worth in the bars of Pattaya for gods sake!

[jayboy]

Flashpoint Pattaya -From Straits Times

April 11, 2009 Saturday, 11:55 AM Nirmal Ghosh reports live on the Red versus Blue protests in Pattaya

Red shirted pro-democracy protestors on Saturday returned in greater numbers to Pattaya, pushing their way to the summit venue for a second day by around 9.30am.

Earlier, enraged by attacks by blue-shirted pro-government thugs the previous day, in which some red shirts were hit by stones, the red shirts had called up greater numbers and scores of taxis from Bangkok overnight.

In the early morning they began marching up the hill to the Royal Cliff Resort, venue of the summit, but came face to face with a few hundred of the pro-government militia, well organized with freshly printed dark blue T-shirts saying 'Protect the Institution' – institution being the a reference to the monarchy.

All the blue shirts were armed with sticks, clubs and iron rods.

The face-offs occurred at two locations, each with around 1,000 red shirts against about 150 blue shirts. The men in blue held pictures of the king and queen. The army's riot control soldiers and the police held back, and for long tense moments there was nothing between the two groups.

At 0845 there were a series of small gunshot-like explosions at the scene further up the hill closer to the summit venue. There was a small cloud of white smoke from one of them. The blue shirts ran helter skelter up the hill, and the troops who had been sitting on the road rushed to form up. The blue shirts and some of us journalists scrambled through just before they closed ranks.

The blue shirted men – clearly a militia – essentially took shelter behind the army, whose officers made no attempt to disarm them. Three of them displayed superficial wounds they said had come from the bomb which they claimed had been thrown by the red shirts. The wounds were about the diameter of a dollar coin, and some were bleeding.

A senior police officer, asked who they were, told The Straits Times 'They are here to keep the peace.'

The red shirts were further enraged by the clear alignment of the pro-government militia with the army. A woman screaming through a loudhailer in English from on top of a truck, addressing herself to the few foreign journalists at the scene, said 'We love peace and democracy, we came to ask for democracy and justice but we have a group of military behind the government. We did not expect the military to be behind the blue shirts.'

'The blue shirted people are the military under the control of the dictatorial government. We do not accept this government.'

Red shirt leaders then calmed the situation down and the soldiers – 15-20 rows deep – squatted on the road. Behinbd them the blue shirts lounged in the shade, and a few tourists wandered around the scene looking apprehensive.

'We are from Chonburi' one blue shirt said – referring to the province where Pattaya is located.

According to two sources, the blue shirts had been organized by the mayor of Pattaya, who is the son of 'Kamnan Poh' – a controversial strongman of the province.

Meanwhile at the bottom of the hill, some 200 metres from this scene, about 1,000 red shirts were in a similar face-off, with the army having set up a major barrier of two water trucks and hundreds of soldiers behind them blocking the approach to the hill.

The blue shirt militia were facing off the reds, but the situation while tense and volatile, did not appear to be escalating.

However around 9.30am the army at the higher location, withdrew seemingly after making a deal with the red shirts, and allowed them to approach the hotel where they massed along with scores of taxis, held at bay by police and army soldiers behind rolls of razor wire.

The red shirts held placards condemning the Abhisit government's 'double standards' and saying 'Thailand Needs Change'.

Their slogan shouting could be heard deep inside the hotel in the media centre.

1045 Thailand time : More details are emerging of the events this morning. The blue shirts were apparently provoking the reds by throwing rocks at them - despite a blue shirt leader urging them to stay calm and not use violence. The reds kept advancing, and apparently (this from an eyewitness) the blues threw a couple of molotov cocktails at them. In the melee, the reds charged and threw some of the bombs back. One exploded. Another small bomb exploded giving off green smoke. There were no guns used. Many of the reds were also armed with sticks and stones. There were minor injuries on both sides.

As of now, at the bottom of the hill the two groups are separated by about 500m, following negotiations with the army.

Outside the summit venue some tourists have appeared and are jollying about with the red shirts.

I am watching TV camera footage of the clash, which is being edited in front of me in the media centre. It shows a brief but furious riot, with reds and blues hurling rocks at each other. Both sides appear to have had small bombs of some description, and plenty of sticks and clubs.

[AnthonyR1]

simply put there is no believing who is who and who supports what in this situation. bottom line IMO is that all parties are guilty of disruption and in some cases treason. it's time for the authorities (whoever the hel_l that is) to step in and put and end to this nonsense, to this belief that you can get your way by holding the entire nation hostage.

democratic voting is flawed but it is the best system the world has to offer. have a vote and stick to it! then when the term is up you get your chance to voice your opinion again in the next election. allowing people to appoint to eliminate governments through protests is not the answer.

i too love this place, i hope they can get their act together soon before it escalates into something uncontrollable

[h90]

What colour of shirt can one still wear in this country --without unwillingly belonging to one side or another? Yellow, red, blue,...

Hope that the security forces get their act together and protect their own people and foreigners from their Red and Mindless violence...

Squarehead has extended his former multiple Wars on This and That to a Total War on Thailand! And Softhead is sitting there smilingly...

in use are:

red

yellow

blue

white (that was a kind of anti-yellow-peace group)

There are some in black, so I am not sure if this is still free.

For sure available:

green

zebra look

pink

violet

brown

but it gets less....nacked is another option

[Koo82]

Both sides were fighting:

[krystian]

Red-shirts battle blue-shirts in Pattaya

PATTAYA: -- Red-shirted protesters armed with giant firecrackers, Molotov cocktails, sling shots and batons, battled with local people who formed a line to protect the venue of Asean +6 summit venue here Saturday morning.

The clash happened at 8:40 am.

The outnumbered blue-shirted local people was scattered and ran for cover when the red-shirted people attacked them.

Several explosion sounds of firecrackers were heard and the red-shirted people were seen as firing slingshots with bolts at the blue-shirted people who tried formed a line in front of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort Hotel.

The red-shirted people formed a line and kept advancing until the two sides stood confronting less than one metre apart and the clash broke out.

The red-shirted protesters were seen carrying Molotov cocktails but none had been thrown at the other side yet.

Terrified local residents closed their houses and many were seen weeping with fear.

HEY You sound very very familiar???!!! Are you Thaksin again disguised as another red supporter

So far, the security authorities had not step in to stop the clash yet.

-- The Nation 2009-04-11

Don't be fooled by gorvernment's medias, they lie and give out wrong information like communists.. Red shirt only asking for a new election, they don't care if Yellow Apisit will be won again and he will be a pure PM come from real election. Gorvenment fraud stolen Taksin money, they need to return his money too. He has a reasonable came from real election and country was growing fast because he has a brain not Apisit or this gorvernment.

The military dictatorship behind gorvernment should be cleaned up to for the long term democracy future and no coup done by them ay more.. tired to see this when they were starving, they always do this.

Heard blue shirts attacked red but the rocks, I don't believed red did that. Blue and Yellow are the same people, that they armed and seized the airport and Thailand lost lots of money since from there 200 billions baht.. well where is Apisit will take care of that..? Red shirts are not acted like terrorists.

Just resigned and accepted that you are not an election PM.

[alan40abc]

The Nation newspaper is obviously owned by the yellow shirts and shows a one sided view of what is happenening in Pattaya at the moment

[LevelHead]

Looks like the "Pro Government" thugs are really now putting Thailands reputation down the pan. Blue shirt thugs.

The government could not even provide basic security for Asean officials.

Abhisit and Demcrats step down. You are now failures in the eyes of the world, not in control of the country and its time to go.

New elections are needed to sort this mess out.

The "pro government blue thugs" "blue pro government thugs incite violence" story is now doing the world news rounds, along with the suspicion there are solidiers wearing blue shirts.

[Guest Reimar]

To all of you who using an "own" style for posting: Please read the Netiquette.

For those who don't like to follow, the warning's are waiting.

[deprogrammed]

Summit postponed following clash between rival groups

PATTAYA: -- The summit of Asean leaders with dialogue partners has been postponed from 9 am Saturday following a clash of red-shirted and blue-shirted people outside the meeting venue.

The postponement was announced live on TV by the acting government spokesman.

-- The Nation 2009-04-11

Chinese PM, Japanese PM, NZ PM, SK president trapped in hotels

PATTAYA: -- The Chinese prime minister, New Zealand prime minister, Japanese prime minister and South Korean president could not leave their hotels to attend the Asean plus dialogue partners summit.

The hotels were blocked by the red-shirted protesters.

The Chinese prime minister and South Korea president stay at the Dusit Thani Pattaya Hotel, the Japanese prime minister at the Amari Pattaya Hotel and the New Zealand prime minister at the Dusit D2 Pattaya Hotel.

-- The Nation 2009-11-04

It makes me very sad what's going on these days. Paying 500 baht or more that people wear a red shirt? Democracy is what the country needs. The war in Cambodia......the troubles in the South......and the red shirt stuff makes it really difficult for villagers to understand what's really going on. I hope that people will be arrested who are violent. I love this country and made it to my home. Please think about the future. Our kids and happiness. Calm down.

Whats with the photo of the weardo?