Cursing Rituals Kick Off Red Shirts Protests

[webfact]

MASS RALLIES FOR THAKSIN

Cursing rituals kick off protests

By The Nation

Lukewarm start as less than 10,000 demonstrators take to capital's streets

BANGKOK: -- Anti-government rallies were held yesterday by red-shirt demonstrators, mostly involving ceremonial activities that saw a moderate number of participants.

No major incidents or instances of violence were reported, except a confrontation between red-shirted protesters and troops stationed outside the 11th Infantry Regiment in northern Bangkok where an ad-hoc command of the government is based.

The red shirts blockaded the barracks, located off Phaholyothin Road, sealing off all entries amidst tighter security provided by policemen.

Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) leader Weng Tojirakarn hit out against the government and taunted Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban working inside.

Traffic congestion got worse later in the day before the red shirts dispersed after 4pm.

A minor incident occurred in the Silom area when office workers threw empty plastic bottles from office buildings on a red-shirted crowd, which had gathered near the Bangkok Bank building.

Initial police estimates put the total number of red shirts gathering at five major rally sites in Bangkok as not more than 10,000. A second estimate by the Metropolitan Police Bureau later in the afternoon reduced the number to 6,500.

Press reports said about 2,000 of them were gathering at the Laksi monument, 1,000 at Wongwian Yai roundabout, 1,000 at Bang Na intersection, 500 at Lumpini Park and 600 at the Din Daeng triangle.

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

Traffic congestion began in the morning when the red shirts started gathering at the rally sites.

Jatuporn Promphan denied at a ceremony at Wongwian Yai that the DAAD was behind four bomb attacks in Surat Thani earlier yesterday. He said the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra movement would gain nothing by carrying out such attacks.

The Metropolitan Police Bureau said revised rules of engagement had been issued to security officials manning major checkpoints on main roads into and out of Bangkok after an inspection by commander Pol Lt-General Santhan Chayanont. The number of vehicle searches was lower than expected.

There are eight checkpoints in the outer areas of Bangkok and another six in inner areas. Each of the 14 checkpoints operates around the clock. They are manned by 220 officials, comprising police, soldiers and municipal policemen.

Movie and still images of operations at all checkpoints are recorded as evidence in case of emergencies or violations of laws by vehicles or protesters who may push through when the majority of them are expected to reach Bangkok on Monday morning.

-- The Nation 2010-03-13

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[Scott]

I don't know if mine is a cursing ceremony, but it's a ritual I carry out each day before I go to work!

I hope all stays peaceful today.

[brahmburgers]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

Why am I not surprised? Actually, this hocus pocus silliness makes Thais look like dingbats in the view of the rest of the world.

Every so often we hear about some African tribe which smear some sort of pig fat on their chests and claim it repels bullets. Same sort of bunk as burning coffins or burning feces or whatever the Reds are doing.

[tominbkk]

The Reds are soooo negative. All this cursing, the violent tshirts they were wearing yesterday of knuckle dragging cartoon thugs with clubs....I'm proud of the government for taking the high ground and asking for them to protest, but peacefully. Let's hope they can abide by that (though the large amounts of Baht being offered to incite riot may prove to be too tempting).

[shawndoc]

First the big protest was going to be Friday. Then they said it would be on Sunday. Now they are saying Monday?

[tominbkk]

First the big protest was going to be Friday. Then they said it would be on Sunday. Now they are saying Monday?

Well, what do you do when you invite a million people to a party and only 30,000 show up?

[givenall]

First the big protest was going to be Friday. Then they said it would be on Sunday. Now they are saying Monday?

Well, what do you do when you invite a million people to a party and only 30,000 show up?

I think is becuse you beer ran out too early

[PeaceBlondie]

Cursing? Do the Buddhist monks teach that? And where are those 20,000 monks? Do Thai schools teach them to curse, or do good Thai parents teach them to curse?

[luangtom]

Voodoo politics, just what lends credibility to the Red Shirt cause. Yes, it is only Friday, but one would have thought that more than the 6,500 counted would show up for the prelude to Sunday. To lay curses on your opponents just shows how either desperate or down-beaten they truly feel. I hope that tempers remain in check and that cooler heads prevail on Sunday, but I do look for far less than the 1-million to be on the streets in Khrungthep. Chok dee to all on the front-lines, be they Red Shirts or Security.

[LivinLOS]

Yes because the yellows didnt have sorcery, thier Buri Ram / Cambo connection, collections of female maxi pads etc..

Sometimes this country does love to revel in things that make them look truly backward.

[Scott]

Let's not be too critical. I know a lot of people who say something and then knock on wood!

Most of us have our little superstitions.

[dobadoy]

Let's not be too critical. I know a lot of people who say something and then knock on wood!

Most of us have our little superstitions.

the picture in the OP shows a meeting from 4th march, not yesterday...

[seri thai]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

Why am I not surprised? Actually, this hocus pocus silliness makes Thais look like dingbats in the view of the rest of the world.

Every so often we hear about some African tribe which smear some sort of pig fat on their chests and claim it repels bullets. Same sort of bunk as burning coffins or burning feces or whatever the Reds are doing.

How can you possibly compare Thailand with a primitive tribe?

Modern Thailand employs up to date scientific principles for repelling bullets

The military deploys the Jatukham amulet for individual round deflection and the GT200 for HE

Tattoos are supplied for those on a lower income.

[ThailandTommy]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

How can anyone take this third world banana republic seriously?

[animatic]

Voodoo politics.

Well it's voodoo to swell the potential protest groups.

No slightly superstitious up country person would dare

come protest without the back up of the proper spirits?

[klikster]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

How can anyone take this third world banana republic seriously?

But it is a completely different issue when western leaders pray for divine guidance?

Please pass the bananas .. er .. I mean my St. Christopher ..

Edited March 13, 2010 by klikster

[shawndoc]

Anyone who is not a Thaksin, a friend of Thaksin, or a poor farmer from Issan is an elite. Duh.

[RKASA]

I don't know if mine is a cursing ceremony, but it's a ritual I carry out each day before I go to work!

I hope all stays peaceful today.

That would depend on what was served at dinner. I have held such ceremony in Velpo, Chile

[RKASA]

Let's not be too critical. I know a lot of people who say something and then knock on wood!

Most of us have our little superstitions.

the picture in the OP shows a meeting from 4th march, not yesterday...

It also has nothing to do with cursing, hay nether does the story.

[doggie888888]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

Why am I not surprised? Actually, this hocus pocus silliness makes Thais look like dingbats in the view of the rest of the world.

Every so often we hear about some African tribe which smear some sort of pig fat on their chests and claim it repels bullets. Same sort of bunk as burning coffins or burning feces or whatever the Reds are doing.

Same sort of bunk and hocus pocus that afflict the West with their religiou ceremonies that precede important events where one whispers incantations to some deity who apparently rose from the dead some 2000 years ago or to his father whom nobody has seen or to some vague spirit known as the holy ghost. And in case that's not dingbat enough for you, apparently he was the result of immaculate conception (yeah, right!). In some of these rituals, there is even the drinking of blood and eating of flesh, albeit represented by wine and bread. Some followers even claim wearing a simple cross may ward off evil and vampires. DOn't get me started on virgin births, holy trinity, papal infallibility, the resurrection, burning bushes, parting of seas, turning water into wine, Lazarus and the whole lot of other BUNK that makes the Thai cursing ceremony perhaps a little less sinister when compared to other BUNK that one chooses to condescendingly belittle.

[animatic]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

How can anyone take this third world banana republic seriously?

But it is a completely different issue when western leaders pray for divine guidance?

Please pass the bananas .. er .. I mean my St. Christopher ..

Most of those Western Politushians are just doing it for the votes of

their particular religious conservative demographic segment.

The politicians to beware of, are the ones who truly believe this stuff.

Because then rational thought has left the building, and a demagogue has moved in.

Edited March 13, 2010 by animatic

[Dodobird]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

Why am I not surprised? Actually, this hocus pocus silliness makes Thais look like dingbats in the view of the rest of the world.

Every so often we hear about some African tribe which smear some sort of pig fat on their chests and claim it repels bullets. Same sort of bunk as burning coffins or burning feces or whatever the Reds are doing.

Should I say more... no just this, this type of trashing of other religions is mostly done by erh...??????

Someone came to ask me one morning...... Do you want to go to the Heaven? Over there, everyone is so beautiful, there is no aging, everyone is happy, do you want to be beautiful and happy forever? quickly take action to qualify yourself to go to Heaven!!"

Me, munching my morning bread replied: "are you asking me to die? need to die before going to Heaven, right?"

Edited March 13, 2010 by Dodobird

[anotherpeter]

A minor incident occurred in the Silom area when office workers threw empty plastic bottles from office buildings on a red-shirted crowd, which had gathered near the Bangkok Bank building.

Are office workers now considered part of this "elite" group I keep reading about that are against the reds?

I was told by a friend that a group of about 30 red shirts vehicles were moving along Asoke (Suk Soi 21) yesterday and quite a few office workers came out to the road clapping and cheering. He doesn't speak Thai (understands a bit), so they could have been abusing them, but I assume the body language showed it was positive support.

A post yesterday also mentioned that owning (paying off) a car/house in Bangkok is considered "elite" by the poor. That doesn't really gel with the number of people upcountry having cars/houses/land.

[favre360]

Lmao this protest is an EPIC FAIL!

[granuaile]

Cursing? Do the Buddhist monks teach that? And where are those 20,000 monks? Do Thai schools teach them to curse, or do good Thai parents teach them to curse?

I've wondered the same thing. I was skeptical about statements that 20,000 monks would show up (as I remember Sean was rubbing his hands in anticipation of that happening ) Maybe it will still happen, but I just cannot see most monks getting involved in this.... it would have made grat propaganda but if things went awry and the government was forced to act where would the fault lie? I think not with the government but the instigators, who apparently had hoped for something like that as a propaganda tool.

After yesterday I am a little optimistic for a peaceful outcome, but then again maybe it will make the few more likely to engage in and provoke violence.

[473geo]

Lmao this protest is an EPIC FAIL!

Any effort to highlight and guide the positive attentention of a goverment to adddress issues concerning the proletariat in any country is never a failure.......but may have differing levels of sucess in varying timescales.

[granuaile]

Coffin-burning and cursing ceremonies were held at major rally sites, with DAAD leaders presiding over the rituals and reading out cursing statements against the government and the military.

How can anyone take this third world banana republic seriously?

But it is a completely different issue when western leaders pray for divine guidance?

Please pass the bananas .. er .. I mean my St. Christopher ..

Well put. I don't agree with the red shirts or their methods but Thailand has no monopoly on superstition. (BTW I do think there are legitimate grievances - but I don't see the redshirt movement as a legitimate movement for expressing those - really they are about Thaksin trying to hold on)....

[mazeltov]

Why am I not surprised? Actually, this hocus pocus silliness makes Thais look like dingbats in the view of the rest of the world.

Every so often we hear about some African tribe which smear some sort of pig fat on their chests and claim it repels bullets. Same sort of bunk as burning coffins or burning feces or whatever the Reds are doing.

funny these cultural differences, and how the Thai are per se, right? all things that are different or what they don't understand gives some geriatric nazi hippies the opportunity to to maintain their superiority complex.

smart boi, you are not in California anymore.

[granuaile]

A minor incident occurred in the Silom area when office workers threw empty plastic bottles from office buildings on a red-shirted crowd, which had gathered near the Bangkok Bank building.

Are office workers now considered part of this "elite" group I keep reading about that are against the reds?

I was told by a friend that a group of about 30 red shirts vehicles were moving along Asoke (Suk Soi 21) yesterday and quite a few office workers came out to the road clapping and cheering. He doesn't speak Thai (understands a bit), so they could have been abusing them, but I assume the body language showed it was positive support.

A post yesterday also mentioned that owning (paying off) a car/house in Bangkok is considered "elite" by the poor. That doesn't really gel with the number of people upcountry having cars/houses/land.

I can't imagine any sizable group here in BKK cheering them especially after last April... but I could be wrong. Would not be the first time. Almost all my friends though dislike the redshirts and their hero intensely.

[Jingthing]

They get upset when people label them as thuggish gullible ignorant rubes. Then they pull this cursing stunt. Their PR guy, he should be fired!

Edited March 13, 2010 by Jingthing