State Of Emergency Declared For Bangkok

[ozfarang81]

Red shirts are now surpassing the PAD in the damage they are doing to Thailand. IS the army going to do ANYTHING??? Why do I even bother asking, we all know the only thing they do is stage coups. They have zero ability at controlling a crowd.

[seri thai]

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.

But shooting a few hundred has been an approved method in the not so distant past. Have we really entered a new era?

Is reference to a new era allowed?

trea-son n. — disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior

It's still OK to ask yourself questions, but don't ask anyone else!

[grandpops]

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

At Last. a news source we can rely on!

[h90]

Abhisit should make an announcement very soon

no idea why he is taking his time.

the army seems divided, sympathetic to the reds, unwilling, plus the reds now have weapons and armored vehicles.

the police dont have numbers to stop the reds , we have an angry mob ,

Abhisit should say something to stop this mess

Not looking good for Abhisit at the moment.

The next hours will tell.

My guess tomorrow winner is clear.

[webfact]

Chile 1973!

[qualtrough]

No body siezed tanks or armoured vehicles!!!!

Just saw the footage.... one guy laid down in front of the vehicle... and then the soldiers sat on the tank for about 2-3 minutes, while some red nut waved a flag in his face. The red nut then climbed aboard the tank, his mates followed, all the soldiers got up and stood around shaking hands.

The red protesters put red cloth in the hands of the soldiers and waved their arms around.

I don't know if siezed is the right word! They sat there doing nothing. More like, hey there red guy.... welcome aboard our green ass-kicking machine.... we won't stop you or even hide inside.....

.....................(how about a beer? Sanook mai?)

I don't thing the fact that the crews gave up without a struggle changes the fact that these vehicles have been seized.

[angiud]

Democracy and free speech, Abhisit style.

Rather be under Abhisit than Chalerm and his pack of inbred mutants!

Soldiers appeared to have little option but to allow their vehicles to be taken or open fire on the crowd.

Run the bastards over. Simple.

Sadly, but I agree. Maybe better tanks come over taxi car locking the main roads

[edwardmoulton]

This was predictable even after the coup in 2006.

Took longer than even I expected though.

This is what happens when the military and other institutions involve themselves in politics with the available media and communications in the 21st century.

One of the reasons this current government have stated clamping down severely on the internet and handing out ridiculously harsh punishments for offenders.

Thailand is finished on the global stage, and has been limping along since the coup, further wounded by airport shutdowns and a weak, military led government and judiciary.

All the skeletons have been coming out of the closet recently, and the warnings have been there for some time but most expats have buried their heads in the sand and ignored them.

I agree... As I said in my post yesterday, Thailand has been in the international news non-stop for the last year for all the wrong reasons - fighting in BKK, Rohingya, Santika, airport, government house, Thaksin trial, corruption, dead tourists, airline crashes and now Pattaya. These all expose the problems in Thailand whether they are political, economic or simple corruption.

Did anyone notice the little news snippet that the Burmese that killed the poor English guy on his boat recently had jsut escaped from a Thai 'slave' ship, sold tot he ship by Thai immmigration officals and on-board for months with no pay or leave....

http://www.andrew-drummond.com/2009/04/02/...from-thai-ship/

Funny how that was not in the Thai news!

[rogerman]

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??

I saw the blue shirt people in Singapore newspaper.

They looked like ninja with head and face covered; Ninjas cover themselves so that they cannot be identified.

What is the purpose of the cover for the blue shirt? Anybody can guess it?

the BLUE shirts are being supported by the mayor of pattaya - some mafia influences here also -- mayor is son of kamnam pho - the big boss of chon buri - and who happens to be in hiding outside of the country due to pending court cases -- and of course the ex member from burirum - Newin -- they cover their faces as they are cowards - and worry about being indentified for shootings and what ever they are seen doing -- just a bunch of hired thugs - one paper refered to them as paid militia --- nuff said

Here they come yahoo heres the circus

1,000 police armed with teargas head to Government House

About 1,000 policemen armed with teargases headed to the Government House Sunday afternoon apparently to make preparations for cracking down protesters.

The Nation

[Thunder26]

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/toc/ViewData...?DataID=1013713

BREAKING NEWS: Red Shirt Protesters Take Control of Tanks

UPDATE : 12 April 2009

Red shirt protesters who have been gathering in front of the National Police Office on Rama I Road have taken control of 2 tanks.

The soldiers who were driving the tanks said they were ordered by their superiors to bring out the tanks but their destination has not been disclosed.

The 2 tanks got stuck on the road under the Siam BTS station with the blockade of taxis by red shirt protesters. The protesters dragged out the soldiers in the tanks but did not harm them. The tanks remained parked on the road with the protesters sitting on them.

The group said they will return the tanks only when the army comes out to clarify for what purpose the tanks are brought out on the street.

They are having fun without any reason, the army is not on their side. They have no idea how many tanks are deployed right now in Bangkok, and that the army is getting heavily armed right now. The reds have no idea what they are going to expect!

[h90]

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.

But shooting a few hundred has been an approved method in the not so distant past. Have we really entered a new era?

Is reference to a new era allowed?

trea-son n. — disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior

It's still OK to ask yourself questions, but don't ask anyone else!

tear gas will do it also........

[kuffki]

Via a regular tv station, I saw a group of reds on the tank. They took control of one tank now.

TOC reported 2 tanks and 2 armed vehicles reported by the nation

Tanks are all over Bangkok now, this was expected and i think the whole thing with Asean Summit was preplanned to crash red shirts, and have Thakisn and all the close associates charged with Treason, lesse majesty and other charges for which he would be brought back. Also do not forget Thaksin has been hiding in China for a while, but now that red shirts held "hostage" Chinese head of state, i doubt China would be safe for him to stay there.

Do not worry, this will most likely last for 2-3 days,after few red shirts get killed or squashed by the tanks-they will all go home. 1000 baht per day is not worth their life.

[simon43]

Surreal! - As tanks roll in the streets of Bangkok, here in Phuket we are having a nice parade in Patong to mark the start of Songran.... the only guns are water guns

Simon

[coconutmonkey]

Thanks H90,

Yes they took 2 tanks..... but siezed, no! dragged? no! used any force other than a handshake? no!

They were laughing! And so were my wife and I, thinking what the international stage will make of this.

This isn't even worth time of day anymore. Just another flimsy, failed pathetic chapter in a long novel of corrupted twists and turns that I've lost the page completely!

[Vindie]

are there any thai people on this forum that can explain how a govt. can be so weak so as not to be able to control demonstrators?

Its difficult for us farang to comprehend why nothing is being done..............someone please explain.

What the generals want isn't the same as how the soldiers sympathize. I don't think it's hard to imagine that they might not want to shoot their countrymen.

[qualtrough]

It is shocking enough to see the double standard exhibited by Abhisit and crew, e.g. disrupt our meeting and you are enemies of the state, but take over an airport and beat up policemen, and hey, that's cool, but to see the number of farangs here who agree is surprising. I take that back. Given the superficial knowledge of Thailand exhibited by the average TV denizen it is not really much of a shock after all.

[AjarnChan]

are there any thai people on this forum that can explain how a govt. can be so weak so as not to be able to control demonstrators?

Its difficult for us farang to comprehend why nothing is being done..............someone please explain.

My Thai/Chinese wife has tried to explain it to me ~ Thais are all one big 'happy' family, nobody [except the Nuts] wants anybody else to get hurt [except as a very last resort] ~ if people are going to get hurt then They must start the Violence, then it may just be OK to respond ..

She says it is Thai culture, as well as Buddhist thinking, not to use force ~ a bit like not losing your temper, whereas Farangs shout and Rage whenever they feel like it .. major difference in mentality I guess.

Whatever the reason the 'tipping point' has surely been reached now, there will be Action very soon ..

[sassienie]

State of emergency declared for Bangkok

STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED FOR BANGKOK, 5 OTHER PROVINCES

BANGKOK: -- The government Sunday afternoon announced the state of emergency for Bangkok and some districts in satellite provinces.

The government reasoned that protesters had committed violence in the areas so the government had to declare the state of emergency to restore normality in the areas.

The areas include some districts in Nonthaburi, Samut Prakan, Pathum Thani, Nakhon Pathom and Ayutthaya.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban will be chief enforcer of the state of emergency measures.

Police and soldiers as well as civil servants will assist Suthep in the operations to restore normality.

After the announcement, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva went on TV live to explain the reasons behind the declaration of the state of emergency and give more details about the declaration.

Abhisit said the government had to declare the state of emergency because the government had to rush solve the problems before the situation escalate.

"The government has to declare the state emergency to restore normality as soon as possible," Abhisit said.

He said the government would do its best to avoid any loss to the people's life and he begged for public cooperation with the government to restore normality.

Abhisit said the chief enforcer of the state of emergency would have power to order arrests, searches of places as well as demolitions of any structure for the sake of law and order.

-- The Nation 2009-04-12

State of emergency declared across Bangkok and vicinity

BANGKOK : Thai authorities have declared a state of emergency across the capital Bangkok and surrounding areas, state television announced on Sunday, following political protests that closed a regional summit.

The decree came "because the situation is worsening with a group of people inciting unrest", a television announcer said before Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva began a live speech on local television.

-- AFP 2009-04-12

That`s a joke.

I have just watch the scenes on Thai TV news.

Red shirted thugs attacking vehicles and people, the police and army standing there, doing nothing.

[Vindie]

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.

But shooting a few hundred has been an approved method in the not so distant past. Have we really entered a new era?

Is reference to a new era allowed?

trea-son n. — disloyalty by virtue of subversive behavior

It's still OK to ask yourself questions, but don't ask anyone else!

tear gas will do it also........

There are plenty of ways to end protests in Thailand. Unfortuneately, all the violent means have historically resulted in the overthrow of the seated government. Are we headed for a new coup?

[Acharn]

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.

Well, you have most of it right, but you left out the part about first Samak and then Somchai being rendered helpless because the Army essentially mutinied -- they refused to obey the orders of the legitimate government of the time. Then they were both expelled from office by court judgments that were not shining examples of equity and fairness. And of course the judges were appointed by the CNS, the junta that conducted the coup of September 2006.

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.

I don't see Abhisit as coming out of this with any integrity at all. His deputy, Suthep, and Newin organized a bunch of plainclothes police and off-duty soldiers into a group wearing dark blue shirts and balaclava masks to hide their identities and provoked a scuffle in Pattaya. Suthep and Newin probably think Abhisit is shielded from blame for that, but they were too open about what they did.

[Plus]

I seriously doubt reds have any real support. They have several thousand people roaming the streets that no one dares to confront, so far, and millions of Thais watching TV in disgust and apprehension.

Jatuporn calls to attack Abhisit and Suthep is an act of treason and an invitation for a crackdown that is currently underway, or so it appears.

Military and police units will be asked to take sides, in a few hours it will be clear if there's any mutiny in the armed forces, but my guess is that they'll all toe the line and reds will have no fallback whatsoever.

I mean, seriously, do you think they are capable of staging a revolution? It takes a lot more to seize the power and install a new government than blocking roads or breaking into hotels and ministries.

It's their final call, if they don't succede now, their leaders are going to be arrested and the movement shut down.

[Priceless]

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............................

I think this is a serious point - they should hold an election with ALL sides declaring they will abide by the result - the only answer in my view as current is not elected by the people and has credibility problems - this will not change until they goback to the people whether they like the result or not.

I think this is a nonsense point. PAD did not contest the election (neither did the red shirts, by the way).

Thailand has a parliamentary form of government. This means that the members of Parliament are elected by the people. The MPs then elect a Prime Minister who can build his majority on a single party (as Thaksin did in his seccond period) or on a coalition (like Samak, Somchai and Abhisit have all done). This is the way parliamentary democracy works, in Thailand as in e.g. most European countries.

Since the Abhisit government has a majority in Parliament, it is from a constitutional point of view just as legitimate as the previous two. (The Surayud government, of course, was not legitimate.) Whether the dissolutions of the TRT and PPP parties were legitimate is a different, though of course related, question.

I get a feeling that many posters here are from the US, which has a completely different kind of democratic system with a (semi-)directly elected head of government.

/ Priceless

Edited April 12, 2009 by Priceless

[h90]

Thanks H90,

Yes they took 2 tanks..... but siezed, no! dragged? no! used any force other than a handshake? no!

They were laughing! And so were my wife and I, thinking what the international stage will make of this.

This isn't even worth time of day anymore. Just another flimsy, failed pathetic chapter in a long novel of corrupted twists and turns that I've lost the page completely!

But you saw the when they broke into the black car and killed (or almost killed) the driver? There no one was laughing.....Specially not the guy on the floor who got the boots in his face.

[edwardmoulton]

are there any thai people on this forum that can explain how a govt. can be so weak so as not to be able to control demonstrators?

Its difficult for us farang to comprehend why nothing is being done..............someone please explain.

What the generals want isn't the same as how the soldiers sympathize. I don't think it's hard to imagine that they might not want to shoot their countrymen.

Exactly, everyone is divided. Soldiers have to follow orders but most of them come form the poor families in the north and so sympathise with the reds. The police are the same and they remember how many of their own were hurt by the yellows last year too...

For this reason and because not much works to plan in Thailand anyway, the whole thing looks half-hearted!

[Gonzo the Face]

D-Station has stopped broadcasts about 15 minutes ago by order of the government.

Democracy and free speech, Abhisit style.

Rainman, if you ae simply trying to flame, ok, otherwise you are such an ass

When mob rule prevails, and a state of ememgency has been declared, certain basic rights are shelved.

Some of the things you spout, strangely enough, I do agree with, but when you try and be 'cute' you loose it.

Your redshirts are now not protesters, they have become rioters and insurectionists. There is a point where even you should know when to stop blowing their horn.. If your common sense is allowed to come through, that is.

Backing your team is one thing. Showing your belief is one thing. But condoning mob rule and violence is not in anyones best interests. Step back and take a look at what is happening.

[bbw]

Go ASTV! What they don't have themself they take from the other channels...But I am not on the TV at the moment so I am not sure for now

ASTV is obviously the least objective source of news...

[edwardmoulton]

It is shocking enough to see the double standard exhibited by Abhisit and crew, e.g. disrupt our meeting and you are enemies of the state, but take over an airport and beat up policemen, and hey, that's cool, but to see the number of farangs here who agree is surprising. I take that back. Given the superficial knowledge of Thailand exhibited by the average TV denizen it is not really much of a shock after all.

Agreed. I think too many years on the beer loses all focus and reality...I have not lost it yet thank God!

[balo]

It's all over the news here in Scandinavia.

So I'm sure tourism to Thailand will decrease even more after this.

[h90]

Go ASTV! What they don't have themself they take from the other channels...But I am not on the TV at the moment so I am not sure for now

ASTV is obviously the least objective source of news...

No the last objective was DTV.

ASTV brings news very objective. The comments are not objective, they separate that very professional and of course mentioned that the red one very peaceful at the tanks and armored vehicles etc etc

[mc2]

I seriously doubt reds have any real support. They have several thousand people roaming the streets that no one dares to confront, so far, and millions of Thais watching TV in disgust and apprehension.

Jatuporn calls to attack Abhisit and Suthep is an act of treason and an invitation for a crackdown that is currently underway, or so it appears.

Military and police units will be asked to take sides, in a few hours it will be clear if there's any mutiny in the armed forces, but my guess is that they'll all toe the line and reds will have no fallback whatsoever.

I mean, seriously, do you think they are capable of staging a revolution? It takes a lot more to seize the power and install a new government than blocking roads or breaking into hotels and ministries.

It's their final call, if they don't succede now, their leaders are going to be arrested and the movement shut down.

i dont think they are staging a revolution, just trying to apply enough pressure to make the goverment step down.

i expect things to play out like at the airport with the yellows, that is , goverment forced to resign.

the reluctant army and police wont be enough to control this angry mob,

only extreme force will pacify them and I dont think the army or police have it in them to do so.