Massive Failure For The Red Rally

[TAWP]

The red rally that is underway, dubbed '1 million red man march' by some, is by all accounts a huge failure in terms of turnout and local support.

The observed sentiment from local residents in middle to low income areas has been dismissive and rejective of the red shirts call for support.

The leadership is scrambling as how to say themselves from this apparent failure to bring any impressive numbers or the apparent lack of support from even their mother party and from all military officers associated with the party. Latest is that they now proclaim that the demonstrations will end at 5 pm and will resume, at a much higher number one must presume, on Sunday instead.

Will they succeed to gather any impressive numbers on Sunday and if they don't, will they fissile out like a fart in the wind or will their last battle be declared to not be their last stated battle anymore and more tries announced?

There is even claims from within UDD leadership that if they gather enough people for 7 days that the parliament would be dissolved, as if there was a rule that forced this to happen. Desperate last call?

Discuss.

[neverdie]

Latest is that they now proclaim that the demonstrations will end at 5 pm and will resume, at a much higher number one must presume, on Sunday instead.

Of course they will..... .....<deleted> when will it ever end.

[Jingthing]

They will blame Abhisit and ISA for their miserable failure. Look for it in Truth Today. What comes after D Day? When will they give it up? Better yet, when will they drop Thaksin, drop the violent color red, and seek out a new, morally credible, ideologically coherent, leader?

Edited March 12, 2010 by Jingthing

[Moonrakers]

The next really will be the final march, again.

[tb86]

i really hope that they cannot get the numbers they are shooting for, but it may be a little early still. Looking back at songkran last year it didnt take all that many protestors to turn this place into a proper mess just a few crazies. At least i hope it dosent turn out that way again.. got alot of things to do this weekend,, dont want to be scraping reds off my bumper all weekend

[SeanMoran]

Business as usual down here in Ban Chang. It would be interesting to be able to look into the future as far ahead as Monday morning.

[tonywebster]

the thing has not even started in earnest yet and the same old posters on here proving their tediousness, how about waiting for tomorrow and Sunday, then make a judgement call, after all the rally is tomorrow and not today, today is small gatherings.

I sometimes wonder what people hope to achieve with such nonsense as this thread, do they think it makes one iota of difference to the actual happenings? do they think abhisit is reading this forum and getting excited because some nomark says not many reds have turned up, or do you think he is concerned with the facts rather than the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum.

Edited March 12, 2010 by tonywebster

[Jingthing]

the thing has not even started in earnest yet and the same old posters on here proving their tediousness, how about waiting for tomorrow and Sunday, then make a judgement call, after all the rally is tomorrow and not today, today is small gatherings.

I sometimes wonder what people hope to achieve with such nonsense as this thread, do they think it makes one iota of difference to the actual happenings? do they think abhisit is reading this forum and getting excited because some nomark says not many reds have turned up, or do you think he is concerned with the facts rather than the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum.

The reds would be crowing if today was impressive. That's a fact for you. Now they are humiliated.

[Moonrakers]

the thing has not even started in earnest yet and the same old posters on here proving their tediousness, how about waiting for tomorrow and Sunday, then make a judgement call, after all the rally is tomorrow and not today, today is small gatherings.

I sometimes wonder what people hope to achieve with such nonsense as this thread, do they think it makes one iota of difference to the actual happenings? do they think abhisit is reading this forum and getting excited because some nomark says not many reds have turned up, or do you think he is concerned with the facts rather than the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum.

Oh, the irony.

[prefabs]

the thing has not even started in earnest yet and the same old posters on here proving their tediousness, how about waiting for tomorrow and Sunday, then make a judgement call, after all the rally is tomorrow and not today, today is small gatherings.

I sometimes wonder what people hope to achieve with such nonsense as this thread, do they think it makes one iota of difference to the actual happenings? do they think abhisit is reading this forum and getting excited because some nomark says not many reds have turned up, or do you think he is concerned with the facts rather than the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum.

My sentiments exactly. I don't think he worries about your ramblings at all

[misterme]

1,000,000 milllion people sounds impressive, but it would still be only 1.4% of the population (1/70th of the Thai population give or take).

How can they claim an authentic revolt if they can't mobilize one percent of their citizens. The world press should cover it as a failure and turn off the cameras.

[hammered]

I wouldnt write it off this soon. Also bea rin mind the red rally in many ways is a diversion. The real chnages get decided behind closed doors. If something is going to happen it will likely be decided in some smoke filled room and we will never know the details. Any change will need military approval unless they split 50-50 or close to it.

Whiule we all look at the rally anything could be going on.

Abhisit said he would disolve the parlaiment to avoid a coup. Interesting statement

[tonywebster]

deary me, I bet you lot are a laugh at parties or do you not get invites?

an unbelievably bad thread filled with foolish pointless rhetoric. If only the pm was as confident as his fellow fools on here we might not be now sitting in the middle of an ISA, however he is supplied with intelligence (providing he doesn't get it from this forum) about numbers and seems to be more than worried.

[TAWP]

Bangkokpundit: Largest redmarch in Samut Prakan, just outside of bkk, about 5,000 red-shirts

My apology, when 5k is the biggest group that is marching here then the total sum isn't even a fart in the wind...I stand corrected.

[quiksilva]

Still too early to call it a failure, I hope it will fizzle out, or if they do rally that they do it peacefully, no matter how many turn out. But I think we should for Sunday to see what the real situation is (this may still be just be an attempt to lure the government into a false sense of security)

[asiawatcher]

Close this thread - very boring...

[dave111223]

A lot of red shirt threads, so i guess this one is as soon as any to ask policy questions.

Is it true that the current government is doing away with the 30Baht medical program?

[ozzieovaseas]

They will blame Abhisit and ISA for their miserable failure. Look for it in Truth Today. What comes after D Day? When will they give it up? Better yet, when will they drop Thaksin, drop the violent color red, and seek out a new, morally credible, ideologically coherent, leader?

What??!!

So you mean us farangs are'nt to blame??

That is a refreshing change

[TAWP]

Is it true that the current government is doing away with the 30Baht medical program?

They changed it to a 0 baht medical program, as it costs more than 30 baht to even charge the 30 baht in administration costs...

[tonywebster]

I think some of you are disappointed that it has not turned violent already so you can spout 'I told you so', the fact that they contingent from chainag mai only left there at 11 am, added to the fact that the actual rally is sunday seems to have passed some of you by. people are still travelling to bangkok, today was always going to be about small meetings and the said non violent, and non violent it has been, I know this irks some of you.

As for total numbers at the end, it matters not one jot if it is one million people or one person as long as they achieve their objectives. Too many people actually thinking a million man march means there will be one million men, the same people probably think the 100 year war lasted exactly 100 years.

I thought more of some of you than this, a lot of thinks you guys write are sensible if a little biased, but this nonsense, well..............................

[brianb1944]

the thing has not even started in earnest yet and the same old posters on here proving their tediousness, how about waiting for tomorrow and Sunday, then make a judgement call, after all the rally is tomorrow and not today, today is small gatherings.

I sometimes wonder what people hope to achieve with such nonsense as this thread, do they think it makes one iota of difference to the actual happenings? do they think abhisit is reading this forum and getting excited because some nomark says not many reds have turned up, or do you think he is concerned with the facts rather than the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum.

Ah that explains it, its just the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum. For a minute I thought it was meant to be serious comment.

[krading]

Took the kids to Lotus at Pak Chong for pizza (pass the ketchup please) and there were a large number of army, police OED and rescue crews gathering.

Being the gateway to the northeast I suppose they will be setting up checkpoints to stop the hordes of red shirts from reaching BK but at the moment they are just sitting around eating and looking at the girls.

[anotherpeter]

A lot of red shirt threads, so i guess this one is as soon as any to ask policy questions.

Is it true that the current government is doing away with the 30Baht medical program?

Is that something you read somewhere or is it just scaremongering?

I did read some comments from someone that since this program started that the standard of healthcare has dropped. Doctors and nurses are leaving. Some things like that. I haven't heard much else good or bad (except for "it's a good idea" - no good examples).

It would be a very bad move by the government, because most of the poor *think* (whether it's true or not) that it is a brilliant thing that Thaksin did.

[LuckyLew]

the thing has not even started in earnest yet and the same old posters on here proving their tediousness, how about waiting for tomorrow and Sunday, then make a judgement call, after all the rally is tomorrow and not today, today is small gatherings.

I sometimes wonder what people hope to achieve with such nonsense as this thread, do they think it makes one iota of difference to the actual happenings? do they think abhisit is reading this forum and getting excited because some nomark says not many reds have turned up, or do you think he is concerned with the facts rather than the ramblings of some old fool on a farang forum.

People post of here about the lack of turn out today

because it was suppose to be the starting point. To have

only 3500 at a rallying point is a sign of empathy and lose

of interest in the red shirt movement.

My 70 year old mother in law was on her way from Mukdahan,

but police confiscated her walking cane at a check point so

she turned and went home

[TAWP]

I think some of you are disappointed that it has not turned violent already so you can spout 'I told you so', the fact that they contingent from chainag mai only left there at 11 am, added to the fact that the actual rally is sunday seems to have passed some of you by.

Don't post lies, the demonstrations was originally planned to be from today at en masse, at full strength. Now the are re-scheduling, when we have actually reached Friday...

[Dodobird]

Bangkok Rally Live Updates

[tonywebster]

A lot of red shirt threads, so i guess this one is as soon as any to ask policy questions.

Is it true that the current government is doing away with the 30Baht medical program?

Is that something you read somewhere or is it just scaremongering?

I did read some comments from someone that since this program started that the standard of healthcare has dropped. Doctors and nurses are leaving. Some things like that. I haven't heard much else good or bad (except for "it's a good idea" - no good examples).

It would be a very bad move by the government, because most of the poor *think* (whether it's true or not) that it is a brilliant thing that Thaksin did.

yes, it would be wrong to cut of their noses to spite their faces. some of his policies are good and should be carried through.

[frodo]

This is from George's section:

Nation: A govt intelligence source has told us that the numbers of red protesters on the first day have fallen way short of expectation. "They expected thousands at each gathering point, but protest leaders only managed to gather hundreds at each spot," the source said.

Thepthai claims organisers have requested Bt500 million from Thaksin for a five-day campaign, but Thaksin cut it down by half.

Thepthai Senpong, spokesman for Democrat leader Abhisit, mocked the low first-day turn-outs as result of freeze-up of money flow from Dubai.

I also think this will be a flop. This three day rally (or more according to Jatuporn) has been reduced to dispersing at 5PM and resuming again Sunday. Nowhere near a million, and not part of the plan.

With the reds already attacking people as they did in Phathumthani about an hour ago, I have a feeling the good folks of Bangkok will not put up with this thuggish and brutal treatment of innocent citizens.

[Jingthing]

Anyone who remembers Thaksin's projected sales numbers for his elite card vs. the actual sales will not be too shocked at the failure of the reds today.

[tonywebster]

now comparing the elite card to a political rally, sad, sad, sad, well the sad thing is that it the people I consider the more intelligent posters on here that are making such rash judgements.

Let me reiterate, today is all about travelling to bangkok, today is small, it is supposed to be, sunday is the main rally, reserve your judgements until then, save you looking foolish like with the uproar on here about those nasty reds throwing poo at the PMs house