State Of Emergency Declared For Bangkok

[paulward]

its clear you have never been near a gun

please bear in mind its more interesting to read when you talk about things that you think you know something about than when you talk about things that you clearly know nothing about but think you do.....

I have 2 rifles in my home country (I don't bring them to Thailand because they're too valuable) and have been holding a license for nearly 8 years now. For all we know, the soldiers are handed the loaded guns right when they jump out of the pickup truck.

who cares?

[humfurry]

It would seem that Thailand is the only country to issue blank ammo to their troops to gain control of a cituation where the thugs have live ammo.(how cool is that )

I wonder if the troops knew they were shooting blanks? Didn't that leave them with no real way of defending themselves?

And now ...what happens tonight? Will they use live ammunition? Or keep shooting blanks with the red shirts knowing they shoot blanks? Now it will turn much uglier. Either the army gets killed or the red shirts get killed. Whoever draws first wins (or whoever doesn't shoot blanks).

Interesting line of thinking..never thought of it before.

Thailand is the only country which practices a semblance of democracy that sends troops armed with M16s (some blanks, some live ammo) to contain a riot/protesters. Other countries would pump the air full of tear gas and spray the protesters with chemically laced water cannons to break up a big mob into smaller mobs and then isolate them and zoom in and arrest them. Other countries would also have infiltrated the mobs with dozens of plain clothes policeman to identify and arrest troublemakers.

Isn't that the way the government of Thailand - Privy Council - should have gone about breaking up the protests instead of sending armed troops onto the streets of a major metropolitan city? Imagine what the foreigners here would be in an uproar if Bush or Blair had sent armed troops, Blackwater mercenaries to quell anti-war demonstrations?

Edited: Somehow this ended up in the copy paste: It's been said a few times on tis thread that the Police are in a difficult situation in Bkk. Besides we had Police officers in this district taking off their uniforms and putting on red shirts. There is really no other choice than the military.

Edited April 13, 2009 by humfurry

[ohdearohdearohdear]

And I must also note the alarming level of blood thirst coming from some members in this forum who have been openly calling since yesterday for the military to mow down the RED protesters with machine guns is disgusting. You know who you are.

I have never been to other ASEAN countries where people who hate the other sides demonstrations wished for them to be gunned down. But hey maybe this is the Thai way and the foreigners also support the Thai way of dealing with dissent. So let's get the Thai way under way then!

Which way is that then?

[nitecm]

The buck stops with the boss.

Abhisit guarenteed that the ASEAN summit could go ahead fine with no trouble and it was a test of his control.

He was PM, he takes the fall for the failure.

Simple as that in the high flying world of politicians.

I think he should stop making "guarantees" for something he can't guarantee. Simple as that. He should have left the summit where it was initially planned, in Phuket. Some (pro-Abhisit people, of course) suggested he moved it to Pattaya to lay a trap for the red shirts. Well, what an amazing plan, endangering dozens of heads of state and foreign government officials on purpose?

In whatever way you look at it, he is a failure of a PM. He has done nothing in his months in office except talk on CNN about how handsome he is, pick up a Newcastle shirt with his name on it and appoint several PAD leaders to government positions.

And now he's wondering why people want him out of office? This guy is a joke!

rainman/Levelhead I don't know why I find you both detestable. ... Oh yes, I do. Neither of you can submit a balanced view of anything and your perception of things suggests we are watching totally different events. This is not because we have opposing views, it is because of your myopic ramblings.

Let me state that I agree Abhisit failed by not securing the Asean conference and this resulted in severe egg on face for him and Thailand. However, since then he appears to have grown in stature and handled the situation with dignity, skill and professionalism - balancing compassion and the need to exert some pressure to get the job sorted.

Fascinating that whilst Abhisit has been in the ascendancy, Taksin's ar5e, and credibility, is on the floor.

Abhisit could come out of this as quelling the 'people's revolution' AND putting the ghost of Taksin to rest at last. The people's revolution is looking more and more the play of a desperate man who was never going to be let back in Thailand, let alone .

The reds failed in their objective of getting Abhisit's resignation and only won a small opportunistic victory in the cancellation of the Asean summit.

But Abhisit may not has the bullet to win the next election because they may not have enough fund to support the rural development

The rural areas at central,north and northeast are the real voters of Taksin.

[debcmai]

It would seem that Thailand is the only country to issue blank ammo to their troops to gain control of a cituation where the thugs have live ammo.(how cool is that )

I wonder if the troops knew they were shooting blanks? Didn't that leave them with no real way of defending themselves?

And now ...what happens tonight? Will they use live ammunition? Or keep shooting blanks with the red shirts knowing they shoot blanks? Now it will turn much uglier. Either the army gets killed or the red shirts get killed. Whoever draws first wins (or whoever doesn't shoot blanks).

Are you sure they were blanks....looked like live rounds being loaded on the BBC.

[agudbuk]

If I had a handgun full of blanks I would fire it at them and you can assume nothing unless you are the policeman in question or a person shot by that policeman. Assumptions mean nothing maybe had bullets ,maybe had blanks u dont know so stop guessing.

Where in the article which I highlighted in BOLD for your benefit did you not see the following words printed by BBC : as another crouched and aimed at waist level and used an entire magazine of live ammunition.

So now its either the BBC reporter is lying or the wonderful, human rights obeying and non-corrupt army of Thailand that is lying. Take your pick. It is not a matter of whether I or you are the ones lying, since we all still depends on news to get information.

Do you really think the BBC are 100% accurate in their reporting. I have seen many reports where I have been places when something happened and know the people involved and the report has been totally wrong. Did the BBC reporter check the gun? find some bullet holes or just "assume" it was live rounds?

I never did believe everything I saw on the news , and after watching news crews filming rubbish dumps after the Tsunami disaster I have even less faith in what I'm shown by the media. There's probably better unbiased film coverage on you tube

[eldar1]

And I must also note the alarming level of blood thirst coming from some members in this forum who have been openly calling since yesterday for the military to mow down the RED protesters with machine guns is disgusting. You know who you are.

I have never been to other ASEAN countries where people who hate the other sides demonstrations wished for them to be gunned down. But hey maybe this is the Thai way and the foreigners also support the Thai way of dealing with dissent. So let's get the Thai way under way then!

Guess you haven't been to vietnam, phillipines, cambodia, burma and laos then. Keep in mind these are not demonstrations, demonstrations are peaceful and mostly contained. The red shirts are insurgents openly fighting the government, while noboday really wants anyone really shot, as a government at a certain point you have to use proportionate force which the thai's have done, they shoot in the air, pop off a few tear gass canisters and generally subdue the insurgents. The police had their chance and they failed to act, that's why the army had to step in.

[Meridian007]

Looks like he got hit by a blank.

Or fell off the bike, or was stabbed, or...

DO you know? Even if it was from a gun, whose gun was it? Did Goldenscreen check? Gotta love out of context, sensationalist "photojournalism".

[on-on]

The police had their chance and they failed to act

It turns out that the police approaching the rallies en masse and yelling "Chui noi?" into a megaphone while rubbing together their thumbs and forefingers in unison didn't have the desired result.

[yabaaaa]

From BBC

At the flashpoint, with their numbers swelled by the arrival of more demonstrators, the confrontation began again - but this time, the rules suddenly changed.

A bus blocking the road was set on fire and a water-cannon was used by soldiers to put out the blaze.

As the troops swarmed forward, another bus was reversed towards them and this was the final provocation - the soldiers opened fire.

Automatic gunfire was aimed at the crowd as they fled - tourists from a nearby hotel watched as bullets were sprayed down the road.

One soldier, apparently a senior officer, stood upright and fired his pistol, as another crouched and aimed at waist level and used an entire magazine of live ammunition - and he was clearly not firing above their heads.

As the troops went in pursuit, another bus was driven at army lines behind their position on another front - it smashed into the barrier on a flyover, almost careering on to the carriageway below.

The military again pushed forward, again firing live rounds, but this time into the air.

An overhead power cable split by a bullet fizzed and sparked to the ground as petrol bombs and bottles rained down on the troops. Aggressively they chased the red-shirts down the road, firing as they went, to Victory Monument - a main roundabout in the city.

Tempers then calmed as both sides stopped to re-group and drink the supplies of water scattered about for the demonstrations.

Gradually they began to taunt each other across the square before the confrontation petered out.

An elderly man was treated for a nasty head injury - a number of people are believed to have been hurt, some seriously.

Go and see for yourself the BBC video on Youtube. It clearly shows the senior officer firing his handgun directly at the protesters. So I guess the handgun is also filled with blanks is it?

Please post the links.

[ohdearohdearohdear]

Looks like he got hit by a blank.

Or fell off the bike, or was stabbed, or...

DO you know? Even if it was from a gun, whose gun was it? Did Goldenscreen check? Gotta love out of context, sensationalist "photojournalism".

Ok then with that ended I am off to my bed.

I hope that everyone and I do mean everyone in BKK has a safe night.

[hammered]

Well attacking a market and threatening to blow up an LPG truck in a poor working class district. Just shows what kind of insanity is going on.

[Farma]

SKYNEWS tv quoting AFP “Thai government says one person killed in protest violence”

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-New...eports_Of_Shots

Edited April 13, 2009 by Farma

[dogleg]

Redscouse, don't you think its about time you button it up..... you're getting to be a pain in the A^^^.

Even though you forgot to announce your connection to the CIA, FBI, MI5 and the no doubt others, you have convinced us that you are in deed a lawyer.....How , by blabing and blabing and blabing and telling all of us how right you are and how wrong the rest of us are and still saying absolutely nothing.

I dropped out of a couple hours ago, knowing it was impossible to discuss anything with someone of such low level thought process. Now why don't you also drop out and/or post about something related to the situation at hand, not prattleing on about what you know and said.

Just one more thought before I go...... In both ore respective countries, walk onto an airplane while boarding and say to the hostess " Hi Jack, and say you have a bomb......... don't have to show it , and don't have to blow up the plane,,,,,,,,, I am pretty sure you will be arrested for a terrorist act.

Now how about taking your final shot and then dropping it ......as you will have the last word little one

LET ME JUST ADD FINI'''''' I HAVE NOW READ THRU ABOUT 3 MISSSING HOURS OF POSTS AND SEE THAT YOU HAVE PRETTY MUCH DROPPED IT...

MY APOLOGIES GONZO

and once again you get your attempt at abuse wrong, at no point did I say I am a lawyer, i have a law degree, there is a big difference.

you were wrong in your ascertains about what I wrote, a real man would admit their mistake and say sorry. only a fool could misinterpret what I wrote, you also accuse me of carrying it on when its you that have come on and dragged a two hour old discussion up, and then when you realise this you don't edit your derogative comments. oh well, I suppose that just about sums you up

Well god knows I tired..... some people just cannot be nice I guess .......

Law degree and not a lawyer means " Just couldn't pass the bar"...... so thats your problem , can't pass a bar

I with draw my appology and now think you are an even bigger jerk......

So how do feel now that the reds are just about folded up?

Got better things to do and other posts with more relevence , so good bye to you

did you read my pm, it was in clear english but because people are not bored with this already let me explain one final time.

the red in my name refers to my football team, I have no colour related to thai politics, at no point in this thread have I posted in support of the reds or give an opinion of their actions.

The comment your are so riled about was written by another poster, it was then quoted (by yourself I believe) but was added to my quote about the legal issue I answered, the original poster confirms this on page 49 of this thread.

I took no professional exams to become a lawyer, that was never my aim, I was a policeman for Merseyside Police.

Your pathetic joke about passing bars is void as I don't drink

your name calling has been reported as has your constant hounding throughout this thread despite me pointing out many times the error you made,

so how do I feel now the reds have almost folded up? well I couldn't give a shiny <deleted> to be honest

end of conversation I think

We hope so Super Sub, we hope so.

Any thing going on in Bangkok right now?

[yabaaaa]

This is the only link where I can see a Thai "security man" firing a hand gun, and its in the air. This is Al Jazeera so if you have a different link from the BBC please psot it?

[rainman]

Any thing going on in Bangkok right now?

Soap operas until 11pm. After that we should see new developments again. Police, army and red shirts are all watching soap operas.

[redscouse]

We hope so Super Sub, we hope so.

Any thing going on in Bangkok right now?

I hope so as well, you would think so many clear and concise explanations would be enough.

I am in Bangkok but nothing happening in my area apart from a few scantilly clad girls dancing on krungthep/nonthaburi road

[kalaminsa]

Red-shirted protesters shot a person dead and injured two others when residents of the Nang Lerng Market came out to criticise the protesters, PM's Office Satit Wongnontaey said.

Satit told Channel 11 that the protesters shot at three people and one was killed while the two others were injured.

The Nation

[Plus]

Now there's news on Nation that reds went into the Nailert market and started a fight with the locals, they shot three of them, one died.

With news like that, nobody in Thailand would regret for a second if police use live ammunition on reds, they are way over the line.

[humfurry]

One dead near Govt. house....not clear what side at this point...but it's suggested it was a drive by shooting by the Reds... I think it was a civilian?

Anyone know?

[Lite Beer]

Off Topic. Inflamatory, Argumentative and Bickering posts have been deleted.

[Thunder26]

The recent news on TV. The reds shot dead 4 innocent people who opposed them overtaking a bus near GH!!!

[xminator]

Nation reports market vendor shot after confronting red shirts. Then again it can just as likely be government propaganda.

Edited April 13, 2009 by xminator

[hammered]

Red-shirted protesters shot a person dead and injured two others when residents of the Nang Lerng Market came out to criticise the protesters, PM's Office Satit Wongnontaey said.

Satit told Channel 11 that the protesters shot at three people and one was killed while the two others were injured.

The Nation

Lunacy. The red shirts have lost it

[on-on]

Off Topic. Inflamatory, Argumentative and Bickering posts have been deleted.

Impossible. The thread still has 68 pages instead of 3.

[hammered]

This is murder pure and simple.

[LawnGnome]

Red-shirted protesters shot a person dead and injured two others when residents of the Nang Lerng Market came out to criticise the protesters, PM's Office Satit Wongnontaey said.

Satit told Channel 11 that the protesters shot at three people and one was killed while the two others were injured.

The Nation

Lunacy. The red shirts have lost it

Its time for the armed forces to end this tonight. With a strong forceful hand, but with as few casualties as necessary.

[LuckyFive8888]

I spoke to my extended family today (and some of them are leaning red shirts). None of the supported the Red Shirts activities. They were, to a one, horrified at the scene of the red shirts beating the PM's secretary, and completely support the government working to restore order to the capital. I would say that if they feel this way, its safe to say that most Thai's also feel that way. When my red shirt leaning family saw them park the LGV gas truck next to the apartment complex, they were well and truly horrified.

I wish everyone stays safe and sound during this trying day.

none of my thai friends and wife's relatives are pro-reds seeing what they have done to the PM and his secretary. now everybody in the village despise the reds and thaksin in particular, they've commented that the reds are barbaric and are a disgrace of this country.

what are they fighting for? for democracy or for thaksin? they have gone wild!

[kuffki]

In my opinion tonight, again late in the night, army will swoop through the red lines. Arrest some leaders,disarm the mob and let them stay there under heavy guard.

Once leaders are arrested, Thaksin can no longer keep paying, the retards will disperse and go home with their tails between their legs.

Next round would be PTP, who would then start to claim that the government used excessive force etc. Once proven otherwise, they will start a new song-government failed to protect summit.

Most likely few months later, Thaksin would be brought back to Thailand, charged with treason and conspiracy to murder and few others, sentenced to 100 years in jail.

Then PTP will realize they can not win and will shut up.

Few years down the road, everything will start again

[Guest Reimar]

This is murder pure and simple.

That is pure terrorism. Period.

Hopefully NOW the simple Thais waking up!