Thailand's 'Yellow Shirts' Call For Martial Law

[webfact]

Thailand's 'Yellow Shirts' call for martial law

by Thanaporn Promyamyai

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thailand's pro-establishment "Yellow Shirts" called Monday for the imposition of martial law to end mass anti-government protests by the rival "Red Shirts," warning they may take action themselves.

The Reds were on alert for a crackdown by the security forces on their fortified camp in the heart of Bangkok, where tensions remained high after a grenade attack late Sunday on the house of a former premier injured 11 people.

Twenty-six people have died and almost 1,000 have been injured in the capital this month in Thailand's bloodiest civil violence in almost two decades, despite a state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas.

The Yellows, formally known as the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), have said they will take action to "protect the country" if authorities do not deal with the thousands of anti-government "Red Shirt" protesters.

A one-week deadline set by the Yellows for an end to the crippling protests expired with no end in sight and the movement called on its supporters to begin their own peaceful demonstrations.

"The prime minister knows well that in this situation military measures are needed because it was hard to resolve it through politics," said Suriyasai Katasila, spokesman for the Yellows' New Politics Party.

"There should be an announcement of martial law," he said. "If the situation does not improve, PAD will consider intensifying its measures."

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.

The anti-government movement remained as defiant after 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 breaking up the protests, the Reds will rally across the country and prepare for a return to the capital, he said.

Many of the anti-government protesters have begun shedding their trademark red clothing and wearing other colours to make themselves harder to identify.

The red-clad movement has also blocked the path of hundreds of police officers headed for the capital to reinforce security forces.

When troops tried to sweep the Reds out of Bangkok's historic area on April 10 they suffered a humiliating retreat in the face of bloody street fighting that left 25 dead and hundreds injured.

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

Ramping up the pressure on Abhisit, the Election Commission earlier this month 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 the end of Monday to forward the second case of alleged grant misuse directly to the constitutional court.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-04-26

Published with written approval from AFP.

[newsfooter][/newsfooter]

[Aasim]

result would be the beginning of more violence

[bwalker1973]

Get ready for more Kaos, or even an uprising. Most embassys have blocked or advised against travelling to Thailand.

[6678hhg]

I have a hard time seeing the yellows being able to pose any kind of threat to the Reds, it seems the Reds would have them way outnumbered and it wouldn't even be remotely close.

[CosmicSurfer]

... and on and on... and on.... it goes.....

Where (or when) it stops, nobody knows.

CS

[lifeincnx]

Nothing like throwing gasoline on a fire to help put it out.

[aussimike]

result would be the beginning of more violence

just when things were at least stable for the time being -- the ones who started all the problems in the first place - the yellow shirt mob - who were lead by interests in only getting rid of taksin for their own reasons -- destroyed property - especially govt house and did untold damage to the tourims industry here are now wanting to make matter worse again -- if these two sides clash there will be civil war = thats if we are not on the brink of it already - the only sensible peaceful group now is the multicolours - who just want the country to return to normal it thats at all possible but the yellows who managed to shut down the airports for two weeks in fact invaded the airport and took over the control towers and then blamed the AOT for closing the airpor - and did untold damage and whos leaders have not been charged with any significiant criminal charges and wander around free as birds - just want this to esculate to more blood shed as this is what the end result will be if these two sides clash --

ok the reds are not moving but they have been quite over the weekend so far in the city -- but till the govt is prepared to set a reasonable election date this will drag on for god knows how long -- this is one nation one flag and one people -- let peace prevail -- and at least have some sensible dialogue ---

no matter what efforts TAT does now to try to attract tourists back to thai - even free airline tickets who in their right mind would come here will this crazyness continues -- Vietnam is looking very attractive - this is not the only country in asia that has what this place has - Malaysia has some wonderful resorts and with overseas govt now publishing very strong advisory notices about visiting here there is no way --- what tourists want is - security above ALL ELSE - and thats not what your gonna get here

Edited April 26, 2010 by aussimike

[neverdie]

When I first read the thread title I thought it said, "Thailands Martial shirts call for Yellow Law".

Of course, there seems no shortage of people calling for this and that, these days.

Edited April 26, 2010 by neverdie

[ding]

Since the Thai's are unwilling to enforce their laws, maybe they should hire an outside security force. Blackwater comes to mind...

ignore

[vitalia]

I have a hard time seeing the yellows being able to pose any kind of threat to the Reds, it seems the Reds would have them way outnumbered and it wouldn't even be remotely close.

Don't forget...Yellow = Military

[sotsira]

They can call for whatever law, the problem is who will uphold it?

[greasergirl]

and now, the show....real chaos begins. I u have a balcony, sell places.....

[salween]

But who's the Martial?

[arnoldjr]

Thank you everybody for showing how incompetent the government is in this country. Honestly, as much as I don't think Thaksin should come back, he would have the balls to do something about a situation like this. Unlike the current PM who sits in his office and gives empty threats of a crackdown. Maybe the reds are right. Abhisit has sure shown it the last few weeks that he's unfit to handle any critical situations. How can a government be in power that can't even maintain order in its nations capital.

[yoshiwara]

I have a hard time seeing the yellows being able to pose any kind of threat to the Reds, it seems the Reds would have them way outnumbered and it wouldn't even be remotely close.

Don't forget...Yellow = Military

says our latest red cheerleader in Thaksin's pocket.

[likewise]

Some still don't understand ??? multi color shirts = yellow shorts in another wrapping.

[atyclb]

Since the Thai's are unwilling to enforce their laws, maybe they should hire an outside security force. Blackwater comes to mind...

An old Chuck Mangione song comes to mind "Land of Make Believe" although the song lyrics depict an idyllic paradise

[Fishman1967]

I have a hard time seeing the yellows being able to pose any kind of threat to the Reds, it seems the Reds would have them way outnumbered and it wouldn't even be remotely close.

I totally disagree with that statement. The Yellow Shirts are backed by the general population suffering from this protest. If any confrontation were to happen between the two groups, the Yellow Shirts would indeed gain support from the multi-coloured shirts along with the angry citizens that have had enough of this fiasco. In the end, the Red Shirts would be greatly outnumbered.

[CosmicSurfer]

It has come to me, that besides all the other problems of corruption, lack of a decent education, nepotism & poverty, cultural feudalism, etc... etc... etc...

There really is NO decent political alternative to chose.... ALL major political parties have the same problems... tainted with the perception, if not fact, of corruption and vote-buying, all controlled (or owned) by the unseen forces of HI-SO (or just Very Rich) Elites.... None of them truly representative of the downtrodden or the middle classes... None of them truly concerned about any kind of real societal and fundamental structural Change.

Lip-service and misinformation is pervasive... False Promises flow like silk over a gorge of deceit and inaction.

Nothing will ever change unless a REAL Leader and a REAL Political movement finally surfaces.

Where is the Thai 'Che Guevara'? The 'Abraham Lincoln', the 'Elliott Ness', the 'Aung San Suu Kyi'.... Where are the ones that can bring the Changes that are needed? The truth and trust that are missing,... the unity of purpose and vision?

Where is the Hope?

CS

[likewise]

If all, multi/yellow act instead of just talk they can easily kick the peasants back to the paddies.

[robertson468]

I have a hard time seeing the yellows being able to pose any kind of threat to the Reds, it seems the Reds would have them way outnumbered and it wouldn't even be remotely close.

You either have a short memory my friend, or were not in Thailand when the Yellow's held their demonstrations - there are hundreds of thousands of them!! On top of which the Yellows seem to have a far better tactical appreciation and ability to execute their operations than the Reds, although the Reds have done not too badly either.

If the Yellows do start, I really fear for the short term future of Thailand, as I think many people do as well. I believe if the funding for the Reds was not available, many would soon go home, unlike the Yellows who I believe have a better capability to self fund their demonstrations.

What a sad, sad state of affairs for one of the loveliest Countries I have ever lived in - and there have been a few.

[tim73]

This must be a special Thai version of Groundhog Day.

[visions]

It is the Puppet's (Abhisit) string pullers that are resisting any outcome. They know they will be ousted in any new election, then targeted, so cutting off their backhanded money supply. That was the main reason the demacraticly elected government was ousted in the first place, as the high and mighty in Bkk were having thier hidden souces of backhanders slowly being choked off.

The reds and seems the majority of Thai people have had enough of the Government sponsored rip offs.

Now see how many Flames come!

[whiterussian]

Since the Thai's are unwilling to enforce their laws, maybe they should hire an outside security force. Blackwater comes to mind...

Im sure they already have western mercenaries, sorry, I meant "security advisors".

VE MUST HAV ORDER! ZEE SHOPPING MUST RESUME AT ZENTRAL WORLD!

This nazi ss post is totally offensive - where are the administrators -----?????????????????????///

shame on you ---- neo nazi na

Look, some of us want to go shopping. How am I supposed to order new carpets from Central World with all these riff raff in the way?

what we need are more guns, and a military and police force that FOLLOW ZE ORDERZ!!!

VE MUST STORM ZE RED FORT!

Edited April 26, 2010 by whiterussian

[sharonb]

Thank you everybody for showing how incompetent the government is in this country. Honestly, as much as I don't think Thaksin should come back, he would have the balls to do something about a situation like this. Unlike the current PM who sits in his office and gives empty threats of a crackdown. Maybe the reds are right. Abhisit has sure shown it the last few weeks that he's unfit to handle any critical situations. How can a government be in power that can't even maintain order in its nations capital.

One can't blame PM Abhisit alone

He needs the army to do the crackdown

Gen Anupong os equally soft

The UDD now know and so that the rest of the world that Thailand has a PM who is soft and the army gen is soft too

bad combination

[Jingthing]

There are only bad choices left. I am not clear exactly what they mean by martial law. How is that different than the state of emergency now in effect in Bangkok? Do they mean a military coup government? Although the pressure is coming from the yellows, instead of dismissing it as out of hand, what are the other reasonable alternatives? Don't say spot elections. If you think that would solve this crisis you aren't following the news.

[slim]

Abhisit looks weaker by the day. He knows the bulk of the Army consists of men and women from the North East and North West of Thailand - are these troops really going to turn on their own people? They could be attacking their own brothers and sisters. The army commanders must realize that there's a real threat of mutiny if the troops are ordered to go in hard.

The bulk of the police similarly are from rural Thailand - red shirt country.

Abhisits announcements look increasingly hollow and desperate.

The will of the people will prevail.

[quiksilva]

Just because you dont see or hear them do anything, nor even read much about it, does not mean that nothing is being done.

Hints however have been made. Chavalit and Seh Daeng being connected to each other and the red shirts, despite Chavalit's previous public rejection of an offer to head the "People's Army" which was publicly denounced by the UDD.

Just because it was rejected in person and denounced in public means absolutely nothing. Notice how there was nothing said by the UDD or Chavalit about the UDD troops which was announced AFTER the People's Army was rejected...

On 5 February 2010, Major General Khattiya Sawasdipol, widely known under the nick-name Seh Daeng, unveiled his plan to launch “UDD troops” to guard the red-shirted demonstrators. Khattiya said that about 200 former military rangers from Nakhon Ratchasima and other northeastern provinces had volunteered to protect the UDD demonstrations. “Usually our unit holds no weapons. But if the state clamps down on us, we have to defend ourselves and our red-shirted brothers and we may need to resort to weapons,” said Khattiya.

Khattiya claimed to have recruited about 5,000 people to join the UDD protection force and planned to absorb more by setting up an application desk near the Puea Thai Party headquarters. The main objective of the UDD troops, according to Khattiya, is to fight against injustice in Thai society. In response, the Democrat government has argued that the establishment of the UDD unit as envisaged by Khattiya would violate the law.

Source: http://opinionasia.com/ThaiArmywithinArmy

I wonder what colour shirts these guys wear? Black perhaps? Perhaps the government is wondering the same thing and working on joining up the dots before making their next move?

Edited April 26, 2010 by quiksilva

[xerostar]

Abhisit has lost what little credibility he had.

He wasn't elected and his actions have cost too many lives already.

He only has one choice and that is to dissolve parliament now.

Holding elections in 3 months seems a reasonable way out for everyone.

If he declares martial law then it will result in the loss of many more lives.

Either way he has lost the right to remain PM.

Let the majority decide Thailand's future in proper elections.

[Thailand]

If all, multi/yellow act instead of just talk they can easily kick the peasants back to the paddies.

I can't believe I am seeing this type of thing written, or perhaps sadly I can having seen some of the comments on other threads.

The current problems in Thailand are very sad, the problems with some TV members is almost sadder.