Thai Authorities Shut Down Red-Shirts Protesters Tv Station

[webfact]

Thai authorities shut down protesters' TV station

by Thanaporn Promyamyai

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thailand's government pulled the plug Thursday on the television channel of "Red Shirt" protesters who have occupied Bangkok's commercial heartland, defying a state of emergency in the capital.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is under increasing pressure to end the mass anti-government rallies, which have disrupted traffic and caused major shopping centres to close.

Abhisit cancelled his attendance at a Southeast Asian summit in Hanoi, where fellow premiers expressed concern about Thailand's deep political rift, which pits Bangkok's ruling elite against the mainly poor and rural Reds.

Leaders of the tens of thousands of supporters of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra have warned they are ready for "war" but the authorities have avoided using force to break up the demonstrations.

Instead the government set its sights on media loyal to the red-clad movement, shutting down its satellite TV channel providing rolling coverage of the rallies, and vowing to clamp down on pro-Red radio stations.

It accused the Reds' TV of distorting information and inciting unrest, warning that the next step would be a ban on the use of loudspeakers at the protest site, where there was an angry response.

"It is an evil measure by a dictator government," said Reds leader Nattawut Saikuar from the rally stage.

"The government wrongly thinks that cutting the signal will stop Reds from gathering. We give final word to the government to connect our signal within today, otherwise people will fight for their rights."

The Reds say the government is illegitimate because it came to power with army backing through a parliamentary vote in December 2008 after a court decision ousted Thaksin's allies from power.

The Reds have promised another big gathering on Friday, extending more than three weeks of rolling rallies that attracted 100,000 people at their peak.

Abhisit's government has banned public gatherings of more than five people and given broad powers to police and military under emergency rule announced Wednesday in the capital and surrounding areas.

Tensions have escalated after the Reds forced their way into the parliamentary compound briefly on Wednesday, prompting lawmakers to flee and several senior government figures to be airlifted to safety.

The head office of the Reds' arch-rivals, the royalist "Yellow Shirts", was targeted on Thursday with a grenade and gunfire that wounded one policeman, a day after a grenade was reportedly fired into the army headquarters.

The followers of Thaksin, a billionaire telecoms tycoon who lives abroad to avoid a jail term for corruption, fervently support the populist policies he introduced before his ouster in a 2006 coup.

The military has mounted a heavy security response, deploying 50,000 personnel at one point to try to contain the protests, which drew as many as 100,000 people on March 14.

The government wants to avoid a repeat of last April's clashes with Red Shirts that left two people dead, six months after riot police took on the rival Yellow Shirts in bloody scenes outside parliament.

"We will not seek confrontation. We do not want to create conditions for instability," said government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn. "At the same time we would like to proceed further with the implementation of the law."

Under emergency rule, "now officers can destroy the cars that block intersections and they will not have to pay for it," he told reporters.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-04-08

Published with written approval from AFP.

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[janderton]

live coverage is the ONLY way to see the truth.

late footages (doctored) aren't.

it happens often on football highlights....

you saw the whole match.... but the highlights late broadcasted looks sooooooooooo different.... seems like your team never shot on target...

....actually the opponent's goalkeeper was the MVP....

[MeMock]

No TV at all in Ubon at the moment.

Surely that isn't connected... is it?

[monkfish]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

[d0om4gloom]

Is it me suffering de ja vu or is 95% of this article the same as we've seen everyday this week. Surely shutting down the tv station is worth more of a story than 2 lines followed by the same garbage we've had for the last

month

[Jingthing]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

As the reds have declared war on the government of the Kingdom of Thailand, this has become a military situation. As such, the government is within its rights to block media outlets that are aiding the military tactics of the enemy, the red shirt rebel insurgents. When the insurgency is neutralized and the masses of illegal protesters leave Bangkok, this current insurgent press crackdown will clearly be lifted. State of emergency, it has consequences.

Edited April 8, 2010 by Jingthing

[monkfish]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

As the reds have declared war on the government of the Kingdom of Thailand, this has become a military situation. As such, the government is within its rights to block media outlets that are aiding the military tactics of the enemy, the red shirt rebel insurgents. When the insurgency is neutralized and the masses of illegal protesters leave Bangkok, this current insurgent press crackdown will clearly be lifted. State of emergency, it has consequences.

If he treats them like insurgents that's what they will become and the will several million insurgents and problems will become bigger and bigger

War! the most dangerous weapon they have are red clapper's.

Edited April 8, 2010 by monkfish

[anotherpeter]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

Can they hate any more than they did before?

[Jingthing]

Well, they are insurgents, now that they have declared war. Now that they have invaded parliament. Now that they have refused peaceful negotiations. How should he treat them? Like crazy uncles, perhaps?

[Jingthing]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

Can they hate any more than they did before?

Good point! As if the more hard core brainwashed reds are EVER going to vote democrat in their lifetimes.

[monkfish]

Well, they are insurgents, now that they have declared war. Now that they have invaded parliament. Now that they have refused peaceful negotiations. How should he treat them? Like crazy uncles, perhaps?

It was a mistake to enter Parliament and they also said so but anyway no damage was done and they were only there 20 minutes.

[Jingthing]

Well, they are insurgents, now that they have declared war. Now that they have invaded parliament. Now that they have refused peaceful negotiations. How should he treat them? Like crazy uncles, perhaps?

It was a mistake to enter Parliament and they also said so but anyway no damage was done and they were only there 20 minutes.

Fake reds, was it?

[Boksida]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

Can they hate any more than they did before?

Good point! As if the more hard core brainwashed reds are EVER going to vote democrat in their lifetimes.

I know lots of people who have never voted for the Democrat party in their lives and probably never will. Most of them also have no interest in the red movement.

[monkfish]

Well, they are insurgents, now that they have declared war. Now that they have invaded parliament. Now that they have refused peaceful negotiations. How should he treat them? Like crazy uncles, perhaps?

It was a mistake to enter Parliament and they also said so but anyway no damage was done and they were only there 20 minutes.

Fake reds, was it?

Who said fake reds?

[tracymeaw]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

As the reds have declared war on the government of the Kingdom of Thailand, this has become a military situation. As such, the government is within its rights to block media outlets that are aiding the military tactics of the enemy, the red shirt rebel insurgents. When the insurgency is neutralized and the masses of illegal protesters leave Bangkok, this current insurgent press crackdown will clearly be lifted. State of emergency, it has consequences.

The government must be getting coached on the side by Kim Jong-il.

[johncitizen]

No, they will never vote for the Democrats... and we must punish them for it!

[Jingthing]

I know lots of people who have never voted for the Democrat party in their lives and probably never will. Most of them also have no interest in the red movement.

So what? Not really relevant. Right now, there is a national crisis and the government is trying to deal with it. Clearly between the two sides, rational, reasonable, peace loving Abhisit who has now been forced against the wall by the anarchists, and the red side led by the terminally desperate self exiled fugitive Thaksin with a long record of stirring up trouble and violence here, there is only one rational choice of preference for rational, civilized, peace loving people.

The government must be getting coached on the side by Kim Jong-il.

Much more in common with Thaksin than Abhisit, mate. You do realize Thaksin was fixing to be dictator for life before things went south for him here, don't you?

Edited April 8, 2010 by Jingthing

[Insight]

Classic case of Freedom of speech vs maintenance of public order.

Broadcasting a doctored audio recording of the PM and passing it as genuine would pretty much guarantee being shut down in any democratic nation IMHO.

My uni module this week is all about censorship;coincidence as this will make a good discussion topic.

[janderton]

Well, they are insurgents, now that they have declared war. Now that they have invaded parliament. Now that they have refused peaceful negotiations. How should he treat them? Like crazy uncles, perhaps?

It was a mistake to enter Parliament and they also said so but anyway no damage was done and they were only there 20 minutes.

Fake reds, was it?

no, 20 true reds entered the parliament looking for evidences....

as was told the internal secutiry was not in possesion of wapons, the only thing left to do were ...to find them...

and looks like red entered the parliament with empty hands but stepped out with guns....

Edited April 8, 2010 by janderton

[Artisi]

Well, they are insurgents, now that they have declared war. Now that they have invaded parliament. Now that they have refused peaceful negotiations. How should he treat them? Like crazy uncles, perhaps?

It was a mistake to enter Parliament and they also said so but anyway no damage was done and they were only there 20 minutes.

Fake reds, was it?

actually yellow shirts dressed in red to discredit them, or whatever suits the story at the time of telling.

[TAWP]

Who said fake reds?

The other leaders said Arisman did it on his own behalf when the action failed to spark anything big.

As is the M.O. in the Red Shirts now. If anything runs the risk of backfiring and does not quickly lead them into a coup-situation they can win, declare the actions to be done by 'fake reds' or 'outside our decision'. If it succeeds however...

[clockworkorange]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

That's right. The dems are censoring the press in exactly the same way that their yellow mentors used to accuse Thaksin of doing.

Such hypocrisy will only make the situation worse.

[Jingthing]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

That's right. The dems are censoring the press in exactly the same way that their yellow mentors used to accuse Thaksin of doing.

Such hypocrisy will only make the situation worse.

The yellow shirts never declared war though. See the difference? Even the USA government now sees the difference I am proud to say.

[way2muchcoffee]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

LOL.

They are disseminating lies and inciting people to sedition. The government is acting responsibly in shutting down their illegal broadcasts. No red will ever love Abhisit anyway.

[jucel]

why does every farang think the red shirts are brain dead and the yellow/elite are einstein. I am 33yr old chartered accoutant who quit the rat race from uk to learn about a foreign culture. I have taught at harrow (bkk) and stanford (hua-hin). I have also taught at provincial schools and village schools in phrae and udon thani. The thickest and most narrow minded have been at harrow/stanford. They are the brain dead ones because they don't give a sh*t, they are fed with a silver spoon and have a totally reprehensible western attitude!! They cant even speak english for f*cks sake and the fees are 1 million baht per year(harrow). The kids from the countryside/poor families are so artistic and full of endeavour its unbelievable. Their enthusiasm just needs harnessing and their full potential being realised!

Therefore my point is that the rich/poor divide needs to be reduced to enable the real thai children to flourish and release their inner spirit & talent; for they are so talented and so overlooked!

jc

[givenall]

I would wish the government be less worried about the bloodshed of the Intrusive Red Shirt and more trying to uphold the law for the rest of the 99.9% Thai citizen

[monkfish]

Well done Abhisit the Reds will hate you even more now

That's right. The dems are censoring the press in exactly the same way that their yellow mentors used to accuse Thaksin of doing.

Such hypocrisy will only make the situation worse.

The yellow shirts never declared war though. See the difference? Even the USA government now sees the difference I am proud to say.

What kind of war is though Jing?

Is it a war with weapons?

Did you see any Reds with weapons?

Why do you always distort things?

Edited April 8, 2010 by monkfish

[EvilDrSomkid]

You do realize Thaksin was fixing to be dictator for life before things went south for him here, don't you?

Now where did you get that information? Or is it just your opinion?

[Sisaketmike]

No TV at all in Ubon at the moment.

Surely that isn't connected... is it?

[/

I guess the time has come that blood will be seen in a different way.....................

[siampolee]

why does every farang think the red shirts are brain dead and the yellow/elite are einstein. I am 33yr old chartered accoutant who quit the rat race from uk to learn about a foreign culture. I have taught at harrow (bkk) and stanford (hua-hin). I have also taught at provincial schools and village schools in phrae and udon thani. The thickest and most narrow minded have been at harrow/stanford. They are the brain dead ones because they don't give a sh*t, they are fed with a silver spoon and have a totally reprehensible western attitude!! They cant even speak english for f*cks sake and the fees are 1 million baht per year(harrow). The kids from the countryside/poor families are so artistic and full of endeavour its unbelievable. Their enthusiasm just needs harnessing and their full potential being realised!

Therefore my point is that the rich/poor divide needs to be reduced to enable the real thai children to flourish and release their inner spirit & talent; for they are so talented and so overlooked!

Interesting, you claim to be a teacher and indeed claim to be an accountant yet you appear to

be unable to express yourself without using profane language. It seems as you do not understand the function or usage of upper case letters.

Indeed your post in this forum is suspect regarding your claims and indeed I am glad you do not teach my children, you are indeed an uneducated uncouth character with a very distorted view on life.

Edited April 8, 2010 by siampolee