State Of Emergency Declared For Bangkok

[gatorhead333]

Buddist country with bad past history of cracking heads .....this is why they try to go soft on their misguided country men,so current government trying to do the good way... but enough is enough....

Edited April 12, 2009 by gatorhead333

[h90]

At first i thought the Army were on the yellow shirts side (as they let them take over swampypoom airport)

Now they let the red shirts into the Asean meeting and now the interior ministry (BBC reporting the army just let them in)

I come to the conclusion that the Army are just incapable protecting government buildings/people or other property.

Incapable.

This is unbelievable, it really is.

Cambodia or Burma should seize their chance and just invade. Who's going to stop them? The Army cant, that's pretty clear!!

The worrying thing is that Al-Qaeda might just seize their chance and stage an atrocity here.

They don't need to destroy Thailand. Thais can do it much more efficient!

[Netfan]

pictures

Those 3 pictures with the reds in action really are scary.

Thanks first I have sen

Hard to tell what is going on though.

Retaliation...attack....defense??

They come from a Michigan blog site??

Yep, they are obviously defending themselves against the guy on the ground, who was cowardly attacking those defenders of democracy by trying to injure that poor mans foot with his neck.

[Vindie]

From The Nation:

Jatuporn calls red-shirts to descend on Bangkok to bring down Govt

Jatuporn Promphan Sunday urged red-shirted protesters to rise up against the government and attack Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban as first sight.

He said there was no longer rule of law so the red-shirted people would attack the government.

He claimed that he had been arrested by the military to the Naresuan base in Prachuap Khiri Khan but red-shirted supporters in the base secured his release and sent him to the rally site at the Government House again.

Jatuporn urged red-shirted protesters to travel to Bangkok or seize provincial halls.

The Nation

Time for the army to crush the red shirts now, they are no longer able to claim to be pro-democractic, they are just a mob intent on cause murder and mayhem now. The true colours of the reds are comming out now.

Agreed... the government has more lead to instigate violence now. The Reds are angry because they insist the blues attacked them in Pattaya and the soldiers shot them today. They have seen the one-sided news coverage and their words have become more hostile. Government will cut the UDD media feed in 30 minutes according to their TV station. It's amazing this mob (yes, it's a mob) has been out for so long peacefully while receiving biased media attention and has only now come to issuing verbal threats.

BTW... check out Thai TV. They are ignoring the whole thing!

[rafval]

ASTV: redshirt mob refuse to let wounded out of Interior Ministry (the guy who had his head smashed with a paving stone)

[Foodie]

Samak was elected. Suthep and friends have taken the law into their own hands. Abhisit and Suthep are the army's henchmen, that says enough. However the problem will not go away by locking up a million people.

Abhisit was elected also. You obviously don't understand how a parliamentary system of government works. Just lkook at countries like Israel, Italy or even Canada where the government changes sides between elections when there is a minority government and some of the coalition parties change there support if they don't like what the current side is doing. That is how the Parliamentary system of government is supposed to work and how it does work, even in Thailand

[qualtrough]

Here's a Protip for those of you who like their drink. Better stock up now, right now!

[seri thai]

Unreal - let the games begin

Was he in the CAR?>

"The government has to declare the state of emergency to restore normality as soon as possible"

Who's definition of normality is that then?

Does this mean the red shirt leaders will be sharing the same cell with the yellow shirt leaders? That would be my definition of normality.

[kopite]

sky news reporting that armoured vehicules have been in bangkok

[LPCustom69]

When Thaksin is behind bars!

The Army spokesperson warned the public not to panic if they happen to see the employ of army forces as the military will start employing their forces and send them to various places.

He said the state of emergency allowed the officials to step up measures to deal with the protesters.

The Nation

Where will this end?

[h90]

just saw live on TV the red mob killing a driver of a black car!

Live killing police don't do anything

[edwardmoulton]

Just as an aside:

What pretty much EVERYONE has ignored is that the reds' original demands had nothing to do with Thaksin. They wanted fresh democratic elections and the investigation and prosecution of the criminals who took over the airport. These are reasonable demands. Thaksin has been gone a long time without much complaint, but the unfair practices by the opposition have given old Thaksin a leg to stand on. It's easy to hate Thaksin and focus on him... but if you do, you lose the democratic perspective.

The more I watch the TV with not one picture the more I am convinced.

PM declares state of Emergency then jumps in his car for a drive????

Car of course is attacked again no pictures.

Now they are saying there are spent shell casings all over the ground........Again no pictures.

In this day & age not a single picture.???

Sad to say it is pretty obvious what is happening now.

Turn on the news. Plenty of vid on the PM's car attacks.

How do you get to see DTV/DSTV...?

[stevenl]

Unreal - let the games begin

Was he in the CAR?>

"The government has to declare the state of emergency to restore normality as soon as possible"

Who's definition of normality is that then?

Does this mean the red shirt leaders will be sharing the same cell with the yellow shirt leaders? That would be my definition of normality.

Since I am convinced 'the people' want an end to all this, that would be the best solution. Just let the leaders fight it out there and everybody else get on with their lives. Edited April 12, 2009 by stevenl

[tiger50]

At first i thought the Army were on the yellow shirts side (as they let them take over swampypoom airport)

Now they let the red shirts into the Asean meeting and now the interior ministry (BBC reporting the army just let them in)

I come to the conclusion that the Army are just incapable protecting government buildings/people or other property.

Incapable.

This is unbelievable, it really is.

Cambodia or Burma should seize their chance and just invade. Who's going to stop them? The Army cant, that's pretty clear!!

come on guys, the reason is simple in both cases they are paid to keep out the way, and this will always happen, no matter who is in charge at the time, its the dosh that buys every time.

[fullservice]

Please, no tanks on the streets... this looks like the beginning of the end

I hope they finally get their act together and do what other civilized countries do and stop the group of idiots that screw up and paralyze the whole country. They should have done this at the airport and hopefully do it now.

[hammered]

These red shirts have support- I will admit more than I thought. This government should start acceding to some of their demands. They have too much support to just smash and that is assuming that the military arent actually divided themselves which they probably are.

There cant be much time left for reason if any at all. And I am not saying I support the mob tactics but that some of the demands are reasonable and some of the underlying but unmentioned injustices that have led to such wide red support need addressing urgently.

[ozfarang81]

Red-shirted protesters seize 2 armoured carriers at Paragon

Two armoured carriers came out of the Royal Thai Police head office but were quickly seized by red-shirted protesters in front of the Siam Paragon shopping mall.

Reporters saw the protesters forced soldiers to leave the carriers and seized them.

Several military trucks were spotted at several areas in Bangkok.

The Nation

WOT THE!?!?

Edited April 12, 2009 by ozfarang81

[jbhh]

From The Nation:

Jatuporn calls red-shirts to descend on Bangkok to bring down Govt

.

.

.

Jatuporn urged red-shirted protesters to travel to Bangkok or seize provincial halls.

The Nation

Time for the army to crush the red shirts now, they are no longer able to claim to be pro-democractic, they are just a mob intent on cause murder and mayhem now. The true colours of the reds are comming out now.

Agreed... the government has more lead to instigate violence now. The Reds are angry because they insist the blues attacked them in Pattaya and the soldiers shot them today. They have seen the one-sided news coverage and their words have become more hostile. Government will cut the UDD media feed in 30 minutes according to their TV station. It's amazing this mob (yes, it's a mob) has been out for so long peacefully while receiving biased media attention and has only now come to issuing verbal threats.

BTW... check out Thai TV. They are ignoring the whole thing!

My guess is that they "ignore" it, so that the rest of the miss leaded Thais don't get the idea of going to Bangkok.

They are not for democracy, they are the manifestation of the anger/frustration of those that got kicked out of the government for braking the law. The P.P.P. knew of the penalty of vote-buying and still did so (in key positions of the party), then they tried to change the constitution after being in power to keep them from being dissolves, unfortunately the PAD ruined that plan, then they tried to buy the members of the democrats to elect the PM they wanted but failed, and now they use the red shirts to try and get back what they have rightful lost. It's a real pity that so many foreigners here are unable to figure this out IMHO.

Edited April 12, 2009 by jbhh

[edwardmoulton]

just saw live on TV the red mob killing a driver of a black car!

Live killing police don't do anything

Red-shirted protesters seize 2 armoured carriers at Paragon

Two armoured carriers came out of the Royal Thai Police head office but were quickly seized by red-shirted protesters in front of the Siam Paragon shopping mall.

Reporters saw the protesters forced soldiers to leave the carriers and seized them.

Several military trucks were spotted at several areas in Bangkok.

The Nation

WOT THE!?!?

What news is this on? I see only old stuff on the channels I am watching... What is the current most live news channel, guys?

[coconutmonkey]

Surely there's more to it than this.....

all this........ it's so twisted and turned.....

Who is pulling all the strings?

Who's sitting in the high chair??

We don't even really know what this is about? 76 billion, republicans? Royalists? Elitists?

We've turned into conspiracy theorists...... and my neighbours are going out for Songkran water fun!!

I don't get it anymore. Nothing is as it looks from any angle, right?

[barney42bb]

This is a huge "lose face" to Thailand...but it seems Son kran is going on as usual....with alcohol,that was said to be banned for the festival.

Looking at the army in patayya allowing the Blues n Reds to run amok...well they made our young English new recruit coppers look positively ancient.

Why is the PM so Impotent to act and disperse these thugs.

The Police and Army just stand by and look on bemused by events...may as well not be there!!!

Imagine if our security services had allowed the recent G.20 Summit to be abandoned because of 200 thugs wanting to impose there will on matters.

GET A GRIP THAILAND..I THOUGHT THE UK WAS BAD...AND WHILE YOUR AT IT...DEVALUE THE BAHT TO SAY 60-65 BAHT...YOU MAY WELL SEE TOURISM COME BACK...OTHERWISE YOUR DOOMED.

[driffter]

OK can anyone tell me what exactly that means I can and can't do? I am going for pizza in a couple of hours down on Suk. 31 with 5 other people...does that mean I should stay at home? Is the MRT still working?

[rafval]

ASTV: New reports that Pravit Wongsuwan (Defence Minister) is hiding in Interior Ministry. 200 redshirt searching.

Thailand television broadcasting images of redshirt protesters with long barrel guns

[realitymanagement]

Well its on TV now, its probably a mater of taking time to work out the "right" angle.

[john b good]

The whole thing is being staged IMHO

How can there not be a single picture??

You are right.

It is being staged by a megalomaniac despot by the name of Thaksin Shinawatra.

Why the authorities continue to allow this fiend to phone into his brainless cronies is absolutely beyond me and the majority if my acquaintances.

On this occasion the army and police would be well justified in decimating these hooligans.

OK, some innocents would be victims, but these red shirts must be put down "like mad dogs"

[arthurriding]

The current government is illegitimate.

The PAD LOST the last election.

Do they think they can ride rough shod over democracy and expect the voices of the people to be silent?

There will be blood............................

Sorry but you need to get your facts straight.

PAD is not a party, it has never been in an ellection and is not (part of) the government.

The current government is 100% legitimate. The current prime minister has been democratically elected by the Parliament.

The current government (as it is now) is not the one that was elected, as the P.P.P and it's coalition partners were ALL dissolved BY LAW because of vote buying

Quite right jbhh.

Lets get some facts straight here. The Abhisit Government is the ONLY legitimate government in Thailand at present. It WAS properly elected, is defintely NOT the PAD party, and did not come to power because of the yellow shirt protests or any such machinations. It came to power because the Newin faction of the previous PPP government decided that it had had enough of Taksin's machinations and were disgusted at Taksin's treatment of Samak and were worried that they too would be marginalised by Taksin. So they jumped ship and joined the Democrats - and Abhisit came to power. Totally legitimately, no question whatsoever about it.

Yes the yellow shirts were mainly a bunch of thugs, but so are the red shirts, and they seem to be a far bigger bunch of thugs than the yellow shirts. So, please, no more nonsense about how wonderful or hard done by are the red shirts.

The only man so far who is coming out of all this with any inegrity is Abhisit. No, he was not weak in telling (as he did) the army and security services in Pattaya on Friday (before the attack by the red shirts) not to cause any sort of violence even if the red shirt attacked (as they did). It is a sign of his personal strength and integrity that he gave those orders. Unlike the red shirts (or the yellow shirts) his primary aim is achieving reconciliation between Thais. he knows perfectly well that once people start dying on the streets, positions on all sides will harden and it will become even more difficult to achieve reconciliation. So, he is desperate to avoid violence so that he can achieve reconciliation, even if it meant a major personal loss of face for the cancellation of the ASEAN summit. Yes, lawbreakers should be prosecuted (and not shot) and that is what he is doing currently. Abhisit in the past few days has shown his immense personal courage and deep integrity. He is one of the few people at present who seems to actually care about what is happening in Thailand and is trying for a peaceful solution. We should all stand up and cheer him for his efforts and actions, not cast dispariging comments on his actions.

[Ricardo]

Army Police & Civil Servents = Coulor Blue ????

Who the hel_l are the dudes in blue? They are intent on mixing it with the Reds so at a guess Pad paid heavies??

There's nothing like a State of Emergency, for bringing out the rumours, is there ? The PAD went home four months ago, and little has been seen or heard of them, since.

I think it was established on the Pattaya SoE thread, that the blue-shirts seem to be controlled by Newin, in some way. I agree that it's interesting to see this new group emerge from nowhere, perhaps it is part of his long-term party-operation, but that would make them ex-supporters of Thaksin/TRT/PPP/PTP wouldn't it ?

The situation is becoming more violent and out-of-control daily, which can't be good, hope that it cools off and nobody else gets hurt. But where is Thaksin in all this, didn't he promise to return immediately the first shot was fired, to lead his supporters on-the-streets ? So where is he then ??

[rainman]

Abhisit : UDD Are Public Enemies

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva last night called the red-shirts "public enemies" for declaring a victory over the cancellation of the Asean Summit with dialogue partners in Pattaya.

"In this loss to the country, anyone or any group of people that announces a victory should be regarded as true enemies of Thailand. Whatever status I have, I will never allow these people to become influential," he told a press conference at the summit venue.

The PAD declared victory (click link to read) after their airport seizure. Can someone tell me why Abhisit then appointed several PAD leaders to government positions, instead of regarding them as enemies of Thailand?

Edited April 12, 2009 by rainman

[mc2]

server went down eh ?

anyhow for those who havent seen the mob footage

some footage, 1 day old mainly of pattaya

[edwardmoulton]

Finally Channel 9 had some live news and showed hoards of red shirts dancing and hugging the soldiers there. All happy together so now you can see where the sympathies lie!