Thailand's 'Yellow Shirts' Mull Next Move Against Reds

[webfact]

Thailand's 'Yellow Shirts' mull next move against Reds

by Thanaporn Promyamyai

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Leaders of Thailand's pro-establishment "Yellow Shirts" huddled Monday to plot their next move against rival "Red Shirts" who are bracing for a crackdown on their Bangkok protest base.

The Yellows have warned they will take action to "protect the country" if authorities do not deal with the anti-government Reds who are defying a state of emergency with their mass rally in the heart of the capital.

A one-week deadline set by the Yellows for an end to the crippling protests expired with no end in sight to the tense standoff, which has twice descended into bloodshed this month, leaving 26 people dead and hundreds injured.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has rejected an offer by the Reds, who mostly support former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, to disperse if elections are held in three months' time -- softening earlier demands for snap polls.

Appearing on national television Sunday alongside his army chief, Abhisit vowed to retake the sprawling protest site that has paralysed Bangkok's main retail district, but gave no indication of when a crackdown might come.

Thailand is largely split between the mainly rural poor and urban working class Reds, and the Yellows who staged their own street protests that heralded a 2006 coup ousting their enemy Thaksin.

Yellow protesters in 2008 blockaded Bangkok's two main airports, before a controversial court verdict removed Thaksin's allies and allowed a parliamentary vote that brought in the current government.

The Yellows had remained largely silent since the Reds began mass rallies in mid-March demanding immediate elections, but there are now growing fears of clashes between the rival groups.

A tense standoff between the Red Shirts and pro-government crowds ended with fresh blood spilled on the streets last Thursday when grenade attacks left one woman dead and scores wounded.

The red-clad movement remained as defiant as ever Monday as another night passed with no sign of a crackdown on their base, which has been fortified with barricades made from piles of truck tyres and sharpened bamboo poles.

"If Abhisit fails to crack down on us, he will have to leave office," said one of the Reds' leaders, Nattawut Saikuar.

If he succeeds in forcing them out, the Reds will rally across the country and prepare for a return to the capital, he said.

When troops tried to sweep the Reds out of Bangkok's historic area on April 10 they suffered a humiliating retreat as deadly street clashes left 25 people dead and hundreds injured in the worst civil violence in almost two decades.

The military has warned protesters would face live weapons fire in any new clashes.

Hopes for an agreement to end the long-running protests were dashed Saturday when Abhisit ruled out an offer by the Red Shirts to disperse if parliament were dissolved in 30 days for elections in three months' time.

In the latest violence in the capital, 11 people, including three policemen, were injured in a grenade attack late Sunday on the house of former prime minister Banharn Silpa-archa, police said.

Another grenade attack targeted a regional police station in northern Chiang Mai province late Sunday but nobody was hurt.

Ramping up the pressure on Abhisit, the Election Commission has called for his ruling Democrat Party to be abolished over allegations of an illegal political donation in 2005 and misuse of a commission grant.

The first count will be forwarded to the Attorney General, who has 30 days to consider it. The election body has until Monday to forward the second case directly to the constitutional court.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-04-26

Published with written approval from AFP.

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[SomTumTiger]

I vote for a move of "Shut the F#uck up" and don't make a bad situation worse...

[SoMeOnEnUlL]

What do these guys think they are? Giving 7 days to government to solve the problem and telling they will take an action if gov. don't comply with them?

[bkkjames]

What do these guys think they are? Giving 7 days to government to solve the problem and telling they will take an action if gov. don't comply with them?

Sounds like the Red leadership only different shirts.

[clockworkorange]

I vote for a move of "Shut the F#uck up" and don't make a bad situation worse...

Seconded

[laurentbkk]

Are we in the edge of a kind of civil war between yellow and red ? Situation is really strange ... A call for election would be the best solution ,let the people decide. Its scary actually .

[quiksilva]

If they do decide to come out it would not bode well for the country, and could certainly be perceived that the country is equally divided into red and yellow camps which could create an impression of imminent civil war.

This is of course an over simplification and does not address the fact that there are very many who just want the whole mess to go away so they cant get back to their lives and making money. (This goes for Thais and Foreigners).

I don't see a civil war in the future, but continued trouble is certainly on cards, even more so if the yellows come out.

However, lets wait and see what they actually decide to do rather than speculate.

[old wanderer]

Pretty narrowed minded of you.....It is conceded the Bangkok is mostly yellow shirts. If my town had been invaded in order to restore a criminal to his "Kingdom", I would be pretty upset with my government if they could not enforce the law. It is almost like some motorcycle gang taking over a small town, and everybody is afraid to act.

Here you have what has become a para-military force, setting up road blocks, stopping traffic, ordering both police and army not to travel....

They have now constructed a fort in the middle of the business district, have beaten people they consider non-sympathetic, have killed people that were a-political (the woman at the sky train that just brought water and a flower for the soldier to cheer them up), have kidnapped people. On and on. (It is all chronicled here in TV for pages and pages)

Maybe it is time for some "vigilante" action?

[crocodilexp]

Are we in the edge of a kind of civil war between yellow and red ? Situation is really strange ... A call for election would be the best solution ,let the people decide. Its scary actually .

Now, now, elections would be playing right into red's demands. The whole point of the coup and yellow protests was NOT to let people vote.

How about a compromise? Let yellow formalize their "if you're not us your vote doesn't count" system for another decade, and then have another big fight when that time is up? If army cracks down and kills hundreds, that's what will happen anyway, so how about getting the same thing, just without the deaths.

Sad.

[quiksilva]

I think you'll find that the vast majority are silent on the issue and are not sided with any of the protesters whatever they colour or point of view.

Edited April 26, 2010 by quiksilva

[TonyH]

I personally see a huge problem now the red cowards have taken off their red uniforms, how is anyone going to know what side they are on?

I think they should put back on the red shirts so at least the armed forces know which ones to deal with. Also yellows should don yellow shirts for their own safety.

[phuketrichard]

Nothing we say or do as expats makes one fuc_king difference to what thai's will do. Dont you all know that?

[Neurath]

What do these guys think they are? Giving 7 days to government to solve the problem and telling they will take an action if gov. don't comply with them?

Sounds like the Red leadership only different shirts.

Precisely my thoughts. With the proviso that the Yellows' suggestions on constitutional reform and governmental representative structure are far, far worse than anything the Red shirts have put forward.

A pox on Red and Yellow leadership both.

[quiksilva]

Nothing we say or do as expats makes one fuc_king difference to what thai's will do. Dont you all know that?

I cant speak for others but I know that these discussions, from all points of view helps me to understand what is happening and make sense of it, even from my own perspective not in the hope that we can solve the problem but because greater understanding helps to reduce uncertainty, which serves to protect our own interests in the country whatever they might be, family, business, or social.

Edited April 26, 2010 by quiksilva

[Neurath]

Are we in the edge of a kind of civil war between yellow and red ? Situation is really strange ... A call for election would be the best solution ,let the people decide. Its scary actually .

It would be if an election could decide this issue. Sadly, neither side has shown much predilection to see constitutionally seated governments as legitimate. Until they're prepared to do so, an election won't solve much if anything.

The traditional source of legitimacy is waning. The question is what will replace it.

[danc]

The obvious one which everyone seems to have overlooked.

Go and occupy the airport and government house and refuse to move until the reds leave the shopping district.

Perverse logic might mean that two wrongs will make a right!!

[chantorn]

To pressure Mark, PAD should do what they do best. Shut BKK airport down again.

However, this time they will surely meet resistant. Not from the government, not from the RED shirt; but from a gang of British camping at the airport waiting for their flight home. Having watch what damage the British hooligans has done in football matches, I am not sure which side will win.

[kissdani]

Pretty narrowed minded of you.....It is conceded the Bangkok is mostly yellow shirts. If my town had been invaded in order to restore a criminal to his "Kingdom", I would be pretty upset with my government if they could not enforce the law. It is almost like some motorcycle gang taking over a small town, and everybody is afraid to act.

Here you have what has become a para-military force, setting up road blocks, stopping traffic, ordering both police and army not to travel....

They have now constructed a fort in the middle of the business district, have beaten people they consider non-sympathetic, have killed people that were a-political (the woman at the sky train that just brought water and a flower for the soldier to cheer them up), have kidnapped people. On and on. (It is all chronicled here in TV for pages and pages)

Maybe it is time for some "vigilante" action?

Be objective and don't argue with something that is only conceded by a one-sided, biased propaganda channel.

It is not your town, it is the capital of Thailand. The people that protest here are Thai people from all walks of life. Talking of a invasion is BS, because a large part of protesters that attend the rally coming from Bangkok and surrounding areas. Bangkok mostly yellow? - No!

It is also not the time for "vigilante" action. hoping for such actions put you outside the civil discourse and makes you exactly to that what the red shirts are accused of.

Thais should not fight each other and there is no need for falangs to encourage such kind of fights. Makes me wonder from what kind of societies, countries or dark times of history some of the falangs at TVF coming from.

EDIT.

Saw now where you coming from - USA. So no surprise for what you are pleading.

Edited April 26, 2010 by kissdani

[Neurath]

The obvious one which everyone seems to have overlooked.

Go and occupy the airport and government house and refuse to move until the reds leave the shopping district.

Perverse logic might mean that two wrongs will make a right!!

MAD (mutually assured destruction)

PAD(Ditto)

UDD(Ditto)

[eggomaniac]

Sondhi, the yellow shirt founder and leader, has a few tricks up his sleeve. He's going to get all his rich freinds to withdraw their billions from the banks to cripple the Thai economy.

Then they are going to stop eating rice and give their mia nois to s*x tourists to cripple Isaan revenues.

[sealy]

What do these guys think they are? Giving 7 days to government to solve the problem and telling they will take an action if gov. don't comply with them?

Sounds like the Red leadership only different shirts.

they now reveal that they are in control all this while, not abhisit.

goodluck,chokdee, thailand.

[alobar]

Any Graham Greene fans out there?!; The Quiet American. Remember the 'Third Way'? Reds as a conduit. Same same but different.

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigat...-dark-influence

[sealy]

Sondhi, the yellow shirt founder and leader, has a few tricks up his sleeve. He's going to get all his rich freinds to withdraw their billions from the banks to cripple the Thai economy.

Then they are going to stop eating rice and give their mia nois to s*x tourists to cripple Isaan revenues.

wow, what a revelation of how thailand works!

this scoop deserves a pullitzer prize or something. quite a sccop must say. better than entertainment tonite show.! :D

[blaze]

Are we in the edge of a kind of civil war between yellow and red ? Situation is really strange ... A call for election would be the best solution ,let the people decide. Its scary actually .

It would be if an election could decide this issue. Sadly, neither side has shown much predilection to see constitutionally seated governments as legitimate. Until they're prepared to do so, an election won't solve much if anything.

The traditional source of legitimacy is waning. The question is what will replace it.

When the kids finally realize that daddy's not around to clean up the mess from their roughhousing- they just might behave a bit more responsibly. Like adults who share responsibility equally for the state of their home.

[sealy]

I personally see a huge problem now the red cowards have taken off their red uniforms, how is anyone going to know what side they are on?

I think they should put back on the red shirts so at least the armed forces know which ones to deal with. Also yellows should don yellow shirts for their own safety.

yellows should wear black now and prepare to mourn the number of dead bodies to come...

[ricklee]

Are we in the edge of a kind of civil war between yellow and red ? Situation is really strange ... A call for election would be the best solution ,let the people decide. Its scary actually .

It would be if an election could decide this issue. Sadly, neither side has shown much predilection to see constitutionally seated governments as legitimate. Until they're prepared to do so, an election won't solve much if anything.

The traditional source of legitimacy is waning. The question is what will replace it.

Excellent point. How much longer can this country afford to be governed by mob rule?

[hoilai]

Sondhi, the yellow shirt founder and leader, has a few tricks up his sleeve. He's going to get all his rich freinds to withdraw their billions from the banks to cripple the Thai economy.

Then they are going to stop eating rice and give their mia nois to s*x tourists to cripple Isaan revenues.

wow, what a revelation of how thailand works!

this scoop deserves a pullitzer prize or something. quite a sccop must say. better than entertainment tonite show.! :D

no wonder farangs are getting all the crumbs and re-runs.......

[Changian]

Only one way to settle it once and for all . . . . a dance battle.

[whiterussian]

Oh Joy, the grenades have started again in Chiang Mai.

Although there are less people here to be hit by a grenade... there are fewer places that farang and tourists hang out.

This sucks.

[hoilai]

What do these guys think they are? Giving 7 days to government to solve the problem and telling they will take an action if gov. don't comply with them?

they are......the mafioso pulling all the strings backstage all this while while you're at the barstool wondering where all the isaan girls have gone.....and why abhisit is like a puppet on a string....

best thing is, did you hear they are dumping all their mia-nois for the the sex tourists to punish everyone in thailand????

where can one buy a whip, quickly?

heeehaw.......

Edited April 26, 2010 by hoilai