Red-shirts Battle Blue-shirts In Pattaya

[bf2002]

The Red Shirts are not for democracy. They are for Thaksin's money - always have been, always will be.

And how is this different than those who resisted the government before? except that the current government definitely was not formed from direct elections?

[terryp]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

[henryalleman]

The Red Shirts are not for democracy. They are for Thaksin's money - always have been, always will be.

Exactly! Thaksin and all his nominee shareholders.

a Thai friend told me last night that the mini car drivers in Chiang Mai were not paid by Toxins sister to take red shitters to BKK they were only give 5,000 tbt for petrol!!!!!!

ho ho ho petrol price must have sky rocketed

When was the last time you drove up and down Bangkok- Chiang Mai, and howmuch you paid for petrol.

In fact she rented minivan's for 3 day's.

Edited April 11, 2009 by henryalleman

[Koo82]

Parties for the reds are down many times by coups and this time a coup by another name, so Abhisit became PM.

The reds have a reason to fight because we don't vote for Democrat Party.

I was at the red protests 3 times in December, March and April. I don't accept the ruling class to cut our parties again and again and control media so their representative party (Democrat) looks good. In fact I don't know who is worse.

[wasabi]

It ends in disaster and disgrace.

[webfact]

Whay cant i read this, only se a list whit replies.

Please anyone E-mail me at [email protected] how to do do.

You should consider to change your avatar as it the same used by the well respected forum member "Monty"

[h90]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

on toc also live.....

unconfirmed that the complete asian summit is canceled

[Africanteacher]

fuc_k politics!

Yes well if anyone should know about crappy politicians, an African should, a continent of dribbly dikked theiving scum bag baaastards......actually it seems like a world wide phenomenon these days.

Yes my friend, I believe know how much damage selfish politics are capable of. Politicians(majority of them) are the gluttons of society, especially those who entice the common citizen to violently air their opinions when they pitch them against their own.

You're right, as an African I've seen 800K lose their lives in a span of 3months as a result of silly politics.

I sure hope Thailand never gets to such pathetic situations. Red, Yellow shirts ,whatever, are not right by holding the country at ransom.

[ironhut]

As reported, the Asean Summit has been called off. Unconfirmed, but likely true. Many news agencies are also pulling out for fear of safety. World leaders are advised to leave when they can.

[mrtoad]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

Disgrace.

[bf2002]

Absolutely pathetic.

The protesters are inside the Asean Summit hotel in force and doing whatever they want inside. Thailand is a joke. A basic unarmed mob can't be thwarted when the safety of world leaders are at stake. NEVER again should a world leader step foot in this country.

Again, WHERE ARE THE HELICOPTERS, WATER CANNONS, ATTACK DOGS, AND BALLS of the authorities?

Where were they when the PAD invaded Govt House?

The police and army don't want to get involved directly...and why should they? with both the locals and the "expat" foreigners constantly criticizing them., whatever they do.

[neverdie]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

I cant understand the brain dead idiots that are trashing the place & waving thai flags at the same time. Its a disgrace.

[PhootThaiMaiDai]

Well done the Blue Team, even if they were out numbered and out gunned.

They showed the side of reason and how the vast majority of Thai's are fed up with this Red rabble and their mob tactics.

If the Reds are mob, then what are the Yellows????

Defense

I remember the good old days when I thought wearing a yellow shirt on Friday was a sign of homage to the King and national unity. Funny how bad people ruin things for everyone, especially the mob.

[Koo82]

The reds after being attacked by the blues now are inside the Royal Cliff Beach Resort. They don't accept Abhisit government.

[webfact]

Well done the Blue Team, even if they were out numbered and out gunned.

They showed the side of reason and how the vast majority of Thai's are fed up with this Red rabble and their mob tactics.

If the Reds are mob, then what are the Yellows????

Defense

I remember the good old days when I thought wearing a yellow shirt on Friday was a sign of homage to the King and national unity. Funny how bad people ruin things for everyone, especially the mob.

Thought yellow was Monday...?

[terryp]

Army massivly overwhelmed red shirts have broken thro the main entrance door now into the convention hall

[TPI]

one shoot in the head of s specific man outside thailand would solve a lot of the problem,

i am more than happy that we have abisit now,, he give good response to the eco crisis and is good in econommy,,on the other hand, there is one man wth his own intrest,get back power and his money,who use the mob for his personal intrest.

thairakthai or taxsin a democrat never ever...........he waS guilty form the NCC for fraud and taxevsion ,and was blocked for politics,, but he was not following in 2001, and was still elected,contrarian thai law.

How does anybody assume that Thailand is a democracy? Most of the rural votes are bought by all parties and the rice farmers haven't yet woken up to the fact that no-one will ever know who they really voted for!

Democracy was forced upon the people from the top down...normal people were never given the chance to decide for themselves how they would be governed. In my opinion most would agree to an absolute monachy again, at least then the agents for officialdom would act in the interests of the people instead of the interests of the local manderins and rustic mafia??

[maechanman]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

They're actually in the media centre so they've managed to obtain maximum coverage from all the media there covering the event.

[h90]

As reported, the Asean Summit has been called off. Unconfirmed, but likely true. Many news agencies are also pulling out for fear of safety. World leaders are advised to leave when they can.

something similar ever seen anywhere else worldwide??

[neverdie]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

Disgrace.

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

I cant understand the brain dead idiots that are trashing the place & waving thai flags at the same time. Its a disgrace.

Is this a case of great minds think alike or fools seldom differ?

[JimmyTheMook]

Massive red shirt mob inside Royal cliff on thai TV now Live

on toc also live.....

unconfirmed that the complete asian summit is canceled

This is hilarious, after this one NOBODY will ever take Thailand seriously.

Wonder if the geniuses will be squirting water pistols at each other in a few more days ...

[hagler]

Thailand analysis: 'land of smiles' becomes land of lies

Thailand, sad to say, is in a terrible mess. With the very future of the monarchy at risk the stakes could not be higher. The country is deeply polarized with goodwill, moral authority and the truth itself in desperately short supply. Thailand could be heading for a very hard landing.

By Thomas Bell in Bangkok

Last Updated: 6:38PM BST 05 Apr 2009

One side is led by Thaksin Shinawatra. The former telecoms billionaire and deposed prime minister is a dubious champion of democracy. During his six years in power Mr Thaksin launched a "war on drugs" in which up to 2,000 alleged dealers were summarily executed by the police.

In government he was dogged by corruption allegations, apparently unable to distinguish his own business interests from those of the country. He was no friend of the free media, although censorship is worse now than it was in Thaksin's day.

On the other side is... who? Mr Thaksin has many vehement enemies among the middle and upper classes. It is difficult to tell how many because in Thailand opinion pollsters never ask the only question that really counts – who would you vote for?

They particularly object to Thaksin's alleged corruption and his government's challenge to Thailand's rigid social hierarchy. Qualms over the deadly "war on drugs", on the other hand, are mostly limited to hand-wringing foreign liberals.

These well-healed opponents control most major institutions. They also claim they are acting to "protect the king", and this is where it gets difficult.

Strict laws make any criticism of the monarchy punishable with up to 12 years in jail – in practice almost any discussion of the monarchy is prohibited. Last week a man, the breadwinner for his family, was jailed for 10 years for posting "insulting" pictures of the royal family online.

King Bhumibol, 81, is "above politics" and he is widely and sincerely loved. Many Thais credit him with steering their country's modern development and intervening to solve periodic crises. The country's official doctrine of "sufficiency economics" is the king's own invention.

When politicians claim to act in the king's name they often accuse their opponents of disloyalty, potentially punishable by 12 years in jail. That can make politics very hard to talk about. Bhumibol, for his part, has been mostly silent.

In 2006 Mr Thaksin was accused of disloyalty to the king and overthrown by a military coup. Nevertheless, with Thaksin in exile, voters returned his supporters to power in elections at the end of 2007.

Mr Thaksin's one great virtue as a democrat is that he and his supporters have won each of three elections so far this decade. He is popular because for the first time in Thai history he campaigned on policies aimed at the rural majority – and then delivered. He earned massive admiration for schemes such as affordable health care.

The pro-Thaksin government elected after the coup lasted less than a year. Protesters, some of them armed with golf clubs, bombs and guns, overran first Government House and then both Bangkok's airports, costing the economy untold millions. They wore the royal colour, yellow, and claimed they were acting to protect the king from Thaksin's alleged republicanism. The movement received the public endorsement of the queen.

The People's Alliance for Democracy, as the movement is misleadingly called, argued that democracy does not work in Thailand because the peasantry are too simple to vote. They want a "new politics" in which 70 per cent of parliament is appointed.

Last year's protests found widespread support among the conservative media which, in its rush to finish the Thaksinites for ever, abandoned factual reporting.

Thaksin denies that he is a republican, although some of his supporters undoubtedly are – or they are now.

At the end of last year a court dissolved the elected government and the army brass summoned political bosses to hoist a new prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, to power. The leaders of the airport protests were never punished – one even became foreign minister.

Now Thaksin has dropped his bomb. In live video addresses to rallies around the country he identified two retired generals who are close advisers to the king and a small group of top judges as the conspirators who plotted his 2006 ousting and have allegedly been invisibly pulling Thailand's strings ever since.

The government is in a funk, panicking about how to block the transmissions. The army is said to be furious: Thaksin has broken the omerta and the government could not stop him. Commentators say he has gone too far and newspapers are openly demanding censorship to stop the revelations being heard.

Yet although the people Thaksin named have offered desultory denials, no one is seriously disputing the truth of his revelations. Apparently that it is not the point – in Thai politics the truth is not meant for public consumption.

Thailand aspires to be a serious country, a Western ally and a destination for tourists and investment, yet in the past few years the "land of smiles" has been more like the land of lies. A light cast on what takes place in the comfortable sitting rooms of power is long overdue.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/...nd-of-lies.html

At last someone with a concise, informative, balanced and perceptive view of current events in Thailand. Contrast this article with 99.99% of the posts on here and it makes the other posters look like bonehead neanderthals. I guess that is why he is a paid journalist for a reputable newspaper and the rest are just "would be if they could be's" full of bluff, bluster and b*lldust.

[ironhut]

Absolutely pathetic.

The protesters are inside the Asean Summit hotel in force and doing whatever they want inside. Thailand is a joke. A basic unarmed mob can't be thwarted when the safety of world leaders are at stake. NEVER again should a world leader step foot in this country.

Again, WHERE ARE THE HELICOPTERS, WATER CANNONS, ATTACK DOGS, AND BALLS of the authorities?

Where were they when the PAD invaded Govt House?

The police and army don't want to get involved directly...and why should they? with both the locals and the "expat" foreigners constantly criticizing them., whatever they do.

Surely you're kidding...right? Are you on crack?

Since when is it okay to storm an international airport and shut it down? Since when is it okay to storm a Summit with world leaders? STOP TAKING SIDES and use common sense here. It's unsafe, unwarranted, and unwanted by anyone who shows total disregard for safety and general guidelines.

The only thing necessary for thugs (mercenaries) to achieve this kind of mutiny is for security forces to do nothing...which is the story of Thailand.

This isn't about yellow or red, but rather about a pacifist society that allows itself to be walked on to the point of world disgrace.

[galowgala]

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

yet again the thai government the thai army the thai police and the thai people are the laughing stock of the world

[xminator]

What you've seen the last few years is an elite loosing its grip on power. It should be no wonder. Over the last 40 years the population nearly grown 3 times. In the last 20 years nearly doubled. While you cant translate situations directly, there is similarities to Europe in late 60's. An overall young population will want changes. Very close to all under 30, even from rural parts of thailand can read and write. They want more from life then working 12 hour nightshift in a bangkok factory 360 days a year. Or having to sleep with tourists to make a living. There is so many reasons for your average thai citizen to be disgruntled about that its no wonder the situation is volatile.

[petedk]

I am now at Baan Ampur and have just seen about 10 truck loads of troops heading into Pattaya. Two of the trucks were full of medical teams.

[jbhh]

are there some comedians here who'd like to make a video?

I got the following idea in my head:

- a farmer sits at his house drinking thai whiskey

- a huge VIP bus comes down the dirt road towards him

- a guy waves a couple of thousand baht at him and asks if he'd like to make some money

- he get's on the bus

- the bus is full of neighboring farmers

- the TVs come down with an instruction video, kinda similar to the ones they give at flights

- a guy in the front of the bus demonstrated on how to put on the red shirt

- the following hours they watch propaganda videos on how bad the government is and that they have to take them down

- the bus arrives at pattaya and they people are led by their guide to the place where they have to confront the evil government

btw, has anyone seen the footage where the red shirts tried to block another road in bangkok and hundreds (more) private people were shouting at them to go away and forced them to clear the road?

It was nice to see, that at least some people are not too afraid of the red shirts and stand up against Taksin's mob.

[PhootThaiMaiDai]

The solution seems to be a multi-colour shirt Blue, red and yellow together

Poor bastard wearing it better be faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, and able to leap tall buildings in a single bound! Or just not hang out in Bangkok...

[xminator]

one shoot in the head of s specific man outside thailand would solve a lot of the problem,

i am more than happy that we have abisit now,, he give good response to the eco crisis and is good in econommy,,on the other hand, there is one man wth his own intrest,get back power and his money,who use the mob for his personal intrest.

thairakthai or taxsin a democrat never ever...........he waS guilty form the NCC for fraud and taxevsion ,and was blocked for politics,, but he was not following in 2001, and was still elected,contrarian thai law.

No it would be the trigger of riots. You rather want 10000 redshirts running down beach road burning cars and breaking windows?

What you have now is demonstrations with a certain amount of controll from leaders.

What will happen if Thaksin dies is riots, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_Los_Angeles_riots , http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_riots or your average french suburb uprising for examples of how bad it CAN be and compare to even the worst day of PAD/UDD gatherings. Your still on scale 1 out of 10 on the riotladder.

[JimmyTheMook]

I am now at Baan Ampur and have just seen about 10 truck loads of troops heading into Pattaya. Two of the trucks were full of medical teams.

Yes well it is nearly lunch time and it is most likely a somtam run...