1,500 Riot Police Deployed To Maintain Order During Red Shirt Rally

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Border kerfuffle as red shirts try to meet Thaksin

The red shirts yesterday tried to create trouble by claiming that they were blocked by Thai immigration officials from meeting ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Cambodia.

At the Rong Kluea Market intersection near the Aranyaprathet border checkpoint, hundreds of red shirts were stopped and asked where they were from and where they were heading to.

Police discovered they were going to see Thaksin and had come from Bangkok and many central provinces.

Some who did not carry a passport and were not allowed to leave the country made a stink about it, accusing police of political harassment.

Pol Captain Chan Wongwaimethee said he called immigration officials to find out what had happened and was told that about 30 people were turned back because they did not have travel documents.

Hundreds of red shirts with passports and who did enter Cambodia were provided with four buses by Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen.

They told Cambodian officials that some of their colleagues had been prevented from crossing the border by Thai immigration officials.

Irritated by the long wait for the red shirts to arrive, the Cambodian officials went to learn why the Thaksin supporters were not being allowed to leave, but accepted the situation after they were informed that the travellers did not have the proper papers.

-- The Nation 2009-12-21

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

Seems like a non-event. just because Sae Daeng can cross borders without travel documents doesnt mean anyone else can.

On Thai forum it is being mentioned that a lot of battalion commanders are being moved around right now by the way. Kinda pro-Thaksin et al ones out of any troop commanding position

This last observation is MUCH more important than anything above.

[hammered]

A lot of people expect violence if the asset seizure looks like going agianst the man, and this time he has lined up a bunch of ex-soldiers and a few serving ones. It remains to be seen if they put their necks on the line though and more critically it remians to be seen if any of the commanders with real power would go along with him. A split in the military would be very dangerous but right now the personal stakes are extremely high. The urgency is nothing to do with democracy at all but all about personal issues. In some ways it is a shame that the intra-elite power struggle has got so mixed up with legitimate grievances.

[LaoPo]

3 banned, newly registered, members in the last 8 posts and not for foul language I suppose...

Sepia - SomdetK and JFitzgerald.

Administration is busy.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

LaoPo