Red-shirts To Hold Mass Rally On Saturday

[george]

Red-shirt leaders confirm plan to hold mass rally on Saturday

BANGKOK: -- The red-shirt leaders Wednesday confirmed their plan to hold a mass rally at Sanam Luang on Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference, Veera Musigapong said the mass rally would start at 4 pm.

Natthawut Saikua said the red-shirt people would reaffirm their intention to fight against the bureaucratic polity and to return democracy to the country.

The rally will continue until 6 am on Sunday and the protesters would not move from Sanam Luang, Natthawut said.

-- The Nation 2009-06-24

[davethailand]

Hope it rains on saturday then.

[joskydive]

I wish they'd give it a rest! Thaksin ain't coming back.

[baht&sold]

Hope it rains on saturday then.

They can always set fire to several buses or light up a gas tanker if spirits are dampened...

I wish they'd give it a rest! Thaksin ain't coming back.

"Chalerm said if he is in the position to do so, he will amend the law in order to bring Thaksin back..." June 24 statement - link

[grandpops]

Hope it rains on saturday then.

These Red Shirts just never learn to do they.

What they should do is hold it indoors, somewhere dry, like an airport perhaps. Never seemed to cause much disruption and the police, army, PAD, their supporters on here, the Courts who refuse to act against them and certain unelected ministers seemed to enjoy the "fun".

Apparently, if you listen to those I listed above, there was no disruption caused, no adverse affects on tourism, no tonnes and tonnes of flowers and fruit rotting in containers, nobody beaten up and hardly any PM's overthrown as a result.

[GENeIsUS]

Grandpops, are you insinuating that there might be a double standard involved in this fine unstanding country? For shame.

[mommysboy]

Red-shirt leaders confirm plan to hold mass rally on Saturday

BANGKOK: -- The red-shirt leaders Wednesday confirmed their plan to hold a mass rally at Sanam Luang on Saturday.

Speaking at a press conference, Veera Musigapong said the mass rally would start at 4 pm.

Natthawut Saikua said the red-shirt people would reaffirm their intention to fight against the bureaucratic polity and to return democracy to the country.

The rally will continue until 6 am on Sunday and the protesters would not move from Sanam Luang, Natthawut said.

-- The Nation 2009-06-24

It goes on and on because the present government really does not have a mandate.

[sriracha john]

Have they announced their standard "one million people will attend"?

[jackdanielsesq]

Thaksin - him heer leddy

BR>Jack

[rixalex]

It goes on and on because the present government really does not have a mandate.

Nope that's not it.

If the Democrats called an election tomorrow and won with a landslide, there would still be reds taking to the streets.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a group brought together by a collective belief in certain upstanding political values and principles; rather it's a group bought together by one rich man and his few remaining friends of power, who having messed the country up and been kicked out, want the chance to come back, be whitewashed of all charges against them, and able to dip their snouts back in the trough for another feeding.

[Sandstone Art]

Hope it rains on saturday then.

Has'nt the govt planned to seed the clouds for this saturday yet??

[BigSnake]

Yep, old RED SHIRTS are ready to go at it again, guess they want to celebrate their victory in the Northeast(Isan) last week.

[Scott]

The gov't might just have to stop it's cover-up of the extent of the A(H1N1) flu, then they could declare a public health emergency.

Funny how these gov'ts get themselves into trouble.

Hope they have a good rally.

[dkstoney]

I wish they'd give it a rest! Thaksin ain't coming back.

Yeah, and neither are elections.

[timekeeper]

I wish they'd give it a rest! Thaksin ain't coming back.

Yeah, and neither are elections.

a reported 5000 people attended the rally in Pattaya to hear thickskin speak

wow! thats massive support for the cause........

5000 out of the 750,000 recorded locals and out of 61.5 million people nationally

now whats that in percentage terms?

is it even a recordable number, its so miniscule.....

[timekeeper]

The gov't might just have to stop it's cover-up of the extent of the A(H1N1) flu, then they could declare a public health emergency.

Funny how these gov'ts get themselves into trouble.

Hope they have a good rally.

no offence intended but are moderators allowed to express an opinion?

especially in the political arena

i would have thought they ought to be impartial

i expect you will correct me if i am wrong

[Credo]

If you think the post is inappropriate, send a report to the Admin and they will decide if it should be deleted. But then again, that would be the Admins opinion.

[sbk]

The gov't might just have to stop it's cover-up of the extent of the A(H1N1) flu, then they could declare a public health emergency.

Funny how these gov'ts get themselves into trouble.

Hope they have a good rally.

no offence intended but are moderators allowed to express an opinion?

especially in the political arena

i would have thought they ought to be impartial

i expect you will correct me if i am wrong

Moderators are allowed to express their opinions as a regular poster. Given that Scott is the moderator for the Teaching forum only, it seems a bit much to expect him to refrain from posting in the rest of the forum.

[Meridian007]

If the Democrats called an election tomorrow and won with a landslide, there would still be reds taking to the streets.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a group brought together by a collective belief in certain upstanding political values and principles; rather it's a group bought together by one rich man and his few remaining friends of power, who having messed the country up and been kicked out, want the chance to come back, be whitewashed of all charges against them, and able to dip their snouts back in the trough for another feeding.

Exactly! There is no legitimacy to anything political here (or legal for that matter), there will continue to be protests regardless of who is in power. Add to that the problems of setting dangerous precedents if anything is done to halt violent protests, (this is why Abhisit had to walk such a fine line during Songkran), and you have an unsolvable, perpetual situation.

All sides, (I almost wrote both, but I think there's more than just "red" and "yellow" influences now), feel that they corner the market on "democracy", but its really just the Pu Yais fighting it out for money and status. They don't realise that every overthrow, every violent protest, every bent legal proceeding just whittles away at what little democracy there is left in this country.

Sadly, I'm not sure that democracy is ready for primetime here. I think the military knows that and is just drooling in the corner, waiting to come back in fully, with an iron fist. Myanmar anyone?

If there could be internationally recognized elections, (maybe election monitoring groups from countries that won't be swayed by their own hidden agendas? Finland? Sweden?), resulting in a PM that is allowed to stay in power (with international support) for at least a year, there might be a chance. There needs to be a leader in power for a while, so that the idea of coup stops being commonplace (oh, its Monday? Time to topple the government again!), and so that there is a chance for legal and military reform.

I don't think its going to happen though, there are too many vested interests, and too much pride to allow assistance from abroad, or to allow any true reform that would create a well defined power structure. I'm finding it harder to find hope in this, but maybe something can be done.

[MHM]

The numbers at this rally will be an important test of the Red's pulling power (& their paymasters)

[george]

Update:

Police request military help for crowd control during red-shirt rally

BANGKOK: -- First Army Area Commander Lt Gen Khanit Sapithak said Thursday that he would deploy troops to help police keep order when the red-shirt people hold a mass rally at Sanam Luang on Saturday.

Khanit said police had sought help from him to deploy some troops to help police control the crowd.

He said he expected no violence during the rally.

-- The Nation 2009-06-25

[khonkaen man]

It goes on and on because the present government really does not have a mandate.

Nope that's not it.

If the Democrats called an election tomorrow and won with a landslide, there would still be reds taking to the streets.

Don't be fooled into thinking this is a group brought together by a collective belief in certain upstanding political values and principles; rather it's a group bought together by one rich man and his few remaining friends of power, who having messed the country up and been kicked out, want the chance to come back, be whitewashed of all charges against them, and able to dip their snouts back in the trough for another feeding.

The core of the red shirts is held together by their desire to no longer be poor and downtrodden. They dont really care about Taksin. They are using each other for different goals.

Who's snout is filling the trough at the moment... somebody must be feeding from it, buts thats okay. I think you may find its the decendants of the original Chinese settlers The Tai Tribe. Me thinks that maybe Thailand does not mean land of the free but land of the Tai

[Plus]

If there could be internationally recognized elections, (maybe election monitoring groups from countries that won't be swayed by their own hidden agendas? Finland? Sweden?), resulting in a PM that is allowed to stay in power (with international support) for at least a year, there might be a chance. There needs to be a leader in power for a while, so that the idea of coup stops being commonplace (oh, its Monday? Time to topple the government again!), and so that there is a chance for legal and military reform.

What reform?

Are you under illusion that those greedy bastards at the top are not supported by the population? Are you under illusion that if there was no vote buying then some real reformists will emerge as leaders?

This topic is about reds, whose goal is to bring back Thaksin and give him back what he stole from the country, and they believe it will be good for democracy.

He already had his chance at "reform" - stuffing all the top positions with his cronies and relatives and stealing on an unprecedented scale. At the moment all regional bosses in red party are Thaksin's relatives, as he doesn't trust anyone else.

The only group that wants a meaningful reform is PAD - they want to completely redraw the political scene and separate politics from big money, but who will listen to them? Certainly not red "democrats".

>>>

In the paper Nation today there's a photo of some red ceremony with a monk holding "We want democracy by non-violence" sign. I don't know if it's the same monk who was trying to kill the Prime Minister back in April.

[Koo82]

These Red Shirts just never learn to do they.

What they should do is hold it indoors, somewhere dry, like an airport perhaps. Never seemed to cause much disruption and the police, army, PAD, their supporters on here, the Courts who refuse to act against them and certain unelected ministers seemed to enjoy the "fun".

You forgot the good foods bit

[Koo82]

The gov't might just have to stop it's cover-up of the extent of the A(H1N1) flu, then they could declare a public health emergency.

Funny how these gov'ts get themselves into trouble.

Hope they have a good rally.

no offence intended but are moderators allowed to express an opinion?

especially in the political arena

i would have thought they ought to be impartial

i expect you will correct me if i am wrong

I guess Scott's opinion is red.

[jumnien]

Go Red Go! Let freedom ring!

[Plus]

Let what freedom ring?

Will Thaksin finally put dozens of newspaper editors in jail as he tried in 2002?

Will he shut down ASTV, as he tried in 2005?

Will Truth today become the only "truth" available to people?

Will the widow of the missing muslim lawyer finally accept that her husband just run away, as Thaksin personally explained to the public?

What will red freedom be like? Will it be more like Chinese great leap forward or more Khmer Rouge style?

What will be their freedom for their current set of enemies - Privy Council, court system, military, PAD leaders, and middle classes?

[Koo82]

The best way is to leave the reds alone at Sanam Luang. They'll come home after 6:00am the next day. They never plan to do anything which can violate laws. They said in future meetings, if they want to move, all of them will go together. They won't split into small groups.

[Plus]

They never plan to do anything which can violate laws.

Who will believe them?

[Koo82]

Police request military help for crowd control during red-shirt rally

Does it show that they expect a lot of reds on 27th?