Thai Forces Fire Warning Shots In Standoff With Red Shirts

[animatic]

Editing is also deleting. You can snip appropriate portions but to do so in such a way as to alter the meaning will result in a warn. Is that clear enough?

Which I have always interpreted as :

Do not change the context of what you quote.

You can, judicially, use ellipses to remove parts of a post on another subject

or subjects not related to what you quote within ellipes,

but NOT if that removal substantially changes

the contextual meaning of what you are responding too.

Example:

The post has two paragraphs on cooking,

one on a train wreck

and one more on balloon animals

You can remove the cooking and add ellipses before

... train wreck ...

add elipeses after

and remove the balloon animals.

Train wreck remains in full context, but other stuff is gone.

But it it were

how to cook balloon animals in a train wreck, it all has to stay.

Clear?

Here is my past take (which I will continue to use). I take the rules at face value as i have learned from experience not to try to read into the spirit of the rules as you never know how a particular mod or Admin might view the rule. No different than trying to interpret the spirit of a law. Why risk it, just obey it and you won't have to worry about going to court if a policeman sees the law differently than me.

So, whenever I want to address a specific part of a quote I will cut and paste as oppose to using the reply function. An example below if I was to reply to something specific in your post...

But it it were how to cook balloon animals in a train wreck, it all has to stay.

Why would you want to cook balloon animals? They give off a horrible smell!

JC

SBK, who I am in touch with regularly, is ADMIN, meaning top level, not a simple mod.

I think you can safely go by her definitions for all mods.

I believe I am on the same page with her, based on direct conversations on the subject.

I just added more detail to her description.

I needed a 3rd subject and balloon animals came up, for no known reason,

and then realized I wanted to tie in an opposite example, so I ginned up that sentence.

PS if making a joke.. smilies are advised, lest some think you are serious.

Edited April 28, 2010 by animatic

[monkfish]

The Friendly fire incident

not sure, but could it be that fake soldiers shot army? This looks anything else than friendly fire, sorry.

R.I.P. it's so saddening

It actually does look like friendly fire, and the fact that the army have confirmed that it was friendly fire makes it quite unnecessary to stir up any rumors. We all know the army is doing their best to blame everything on the red shirts, so for the army to come out and actually admit something must mean that there's really no doubt.

This incident is not the lethal one afaik.

Was there more than 1 friendly fire incident today?

Do you have more information regarding the lethal one?

[Jingthing]

Enough already with the editing debate! Mai bpen rai!

[Thai at Heart]

Thais like a soft spoken consensus builder even more than the tough guy.

Nam jai, but do your duty also,

after making it obvious to all where that duty must be.

A potent combination in Thai social terms. And the majority of Thais

will still think that way in their living rooms and local market places.

On the basis that he was on the BBC, ironically, the overwhelming majority of his Thai audience was the upper echelons of society.

It would be interesting to really know if they appreciate his softly softly approach so far. Listening to the supposedly higher classed, worldly wise and enlightened PAD, apparently not.

[whiterussian]

it is obvious that we are witnessing a similar uprising to that in Tsarist Russia

No. The uprising here has no relation to what happened in Russia. You are so very very wrong.

Go back and read a little more about history.

Gotta say,dont dont remember reading in the history books the Bolsheviks being paid to close down Moscow.

Look into the trains of gold as funding for the soc' revolutionaires. Who was Russia fighting atthe time? - Germany. Where did the gold come from?

Who were the backers? You would be surprised. Cui bono?

Here is a starter for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Schiff

Of course it's not quite that simple..

Edited April 28, 2010 by whiterussian

[elcent]

the scripts were written before.

The democrats will be likely dissolved too. Then what? Will Abhisit still be the army spokesman then?

He had a very high pitch in his tone during the tough talks today, which means he's stressed out to the limit. He's definitely not a solution provider, but maybe good when times are more peaceful and things are as he pretends to be at the moment.

You can't ride a tandem in different direction at the same time.

[monkfish]

Comments section of http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2...ional-monument/

Athita // Apr 28, 2010 at 10:44 pm

My friend was driving at Paholyothin road, near Lam Look Ka intersection when the incident took place. He saw many soldiers and riot police were firing bullets to the air, some to the protesters.

Spring News TV ( http://www.springnewstv.com ) is now blocked by the ICT for their live report at the scene claiming the shooting came from the standing soldiers and hit a soilder riding on motorcycle. See picture

http://www.pantip.com/cafe/rajdumnern/topi.../P9183397-0.jpg

BBC also reports the dead soldier was mistakenly shot by another soldier.

I watched live local Thai TPBS, and The Nation, the reporters said the protestors had nothing except rocks, sticks, firecrackers etc.

--------------------------

3Athita // Apr 28, 2010 at 11:01 pm

Additional report,

The dead soldier namedly Private Narongrit Sara was shot to the head. He was riding a motorbike as "rapid unit" toward those standing soldiers. As the situation tensed and it was heavy rain, some said the standing force fired to the poor private.

Another injured innocent motorist, is reported namely as Mr. Komkrit, (some said he works as vegetable delivery at Si Moom Muang Market) was shot by real bullet while he was in his car and treated at ICU in a hospital.

The hospitals nearby report total casualties of 18 in total (mostly civilian, and passing by folks).

Thats crazy why would they want to block this information? Don't the people have right to know the truth?

[OzMick]

I am amazed at the level of inuendo and total opinion! Many want to take a point. One even referred to soldiers wanting maintain their <deleted>! How male and how limited in scope to tie this to masculinity and totally off-point.

Just admit, up front, "THIS IS MY OPINION AND IT IS NOT AT ALL TRUE!" then say your peace. I love Thailand and, of course, I hope to make it my home until my death. People are, in general, good and worthy of the opportunity to be able to express themselves as well as they can. Overall, I sense that some of you are afraid or scared about the outcome of all of this This is, in essence, a brief point in time that will, only too shortly, pass. Then, later, you will come here to see your ignorance, fear, intolerance and OPINION for waht it is: so much blather.

Keep blowing smoke for it amounts to nothing in the short as well as the long run.

Common sense should prevail at such times and people need to think about this. I would be afraid to have a number of you in charge of any group in a crises. Only level heads will prevail!

Only level heads will prevail! You obviously havn't read his posts!

[danc]

And all this on the day after the government played the equivalent of the race card...(dramatic music, drums rolling)... it's all a big plot to overthrow the monarchy...involving just about every single one person whose politics are not the same as those making the accusations, including the whole of the opposition party (see the big pie chart, afraid I don't have a link but it is from BPundit). At least it got a positive that he was not jumping ship yet, or was he, from that white than white Ghandi figure himself, Khun Newin Chidchob.

And today we have the grenades pulled out the old store cupboard to explain away what is another bad day at the office in which on the first day that live bullets have been officially allowed, the security forces have managed to to take out one their own..(source just about every news outlet going). The grenades were abandoned in a motorbike (all of them), we didn't catch the culprit, it made us nervous that the protestors were angry or there were chaps there of ill-intention, so we decided to call it quits for the day and no, anyone that suggests it was chaos, well that's not fair, it was because of these things here that our chaps gave their usual impression that they could find the old proverbial with two hands...

For all I know all of this is right and true and fair but after the third force, the terrorists, Hitler, the cancer, I am full, im laew, enough, please. I almost appreciate the Reds for just saying they hate the govenemnt, period in a hundred different ways but at least it's consistent.

And before I get the obvious, of course I regret the loss of life.

And that my friends is also maybe a response that comes when the media in country is controlled out of oblivion by the government of the day and yes it was worse under Thaksin.

If you don't believe that there are people trying to overthrow the monarchy among the reds, I suggest you check out the red publications which constantly carry articles about the overthrow of various monarchy's such as Russia's in 1917, Nepal's more recently, the French Revolution and so forth. Please explain what THAT is all about?

Precisely!

I didn't say you were wrong - for all I know all of this is right and true and fair - my quotation from my own original post. My point is this rather forlorn "throw enough stuff at the wall until one please, please please sticks approach" shows no sense of leadership or of control and it does not wash one iota with the western media. Indeed, Abhisit had his chance at them today and yesterday with his interviews and he's fluffed them - he looked awkward, scripted, evasive, nervous and as always slightly smug, (it's just the way his face hangs, Gordon Brown never looks happy though I am sure he loves a good laugh) but above all he looked like he had no confidence that what what he was saying was indeed right anymore - has spent too much time in the old bunker and it shows. Yup, they go at them in interviews, but that is the way those viewers of the programmes see how these politicians face up to it. There will not be one person in the newsrooms of those respective organisations that will feel he knows what he is up to or that he is indeed in charge - and I am sorry somebody somwhere referred to Foxnews - here I will show my colours, as that programme outside of the American audience it is directed at, has absolutely no, zero, zilch, nada, journalistic expertise or respect. It is simply put beyond bad, where it being so bad is weirdly enough not even funny as really bad things sometimes can be....

None of the above is anything but my perception of things and should not be treated as fact.

[viking75]

The Friendly fire incident

not sure, but could it be that fake soldiers shot army? This looks anything else than friendly fire, sorry.

R.I.P. it's so saddening

It actually does look like friendly fire, and the fact that the army have confirmed that it was friendly fire makes it quite unnecessary to stir up any rumors. We all know the army is doing their best to blame everything on the red shirts, so for the army to come out and actually admit something must mean that there's really no doubt.

This incident is not the lethal one afaik.

Was there more than 1 friendly fire incident today?

Do you have more information regarding the lethal one?

If you think not true, try to look at company make film springnewstv.com and you see icot block site tonight. lucky they are stupid and not see that this clips is on bbc, aljazeera cnn all night and now youtube

good that thia icot is not clever as cres think is is

maybe tomorrow in Nation is article about speech freedoms in thailand now. i think not so

Edited April 28, 2010 by viking75

[way2muchcoffee]

I think that using force by Abhisit is absolutely the wrong thing to do.

It may disperse the crowd but it will NOT kill off the movement, peopel will still bear grudges and hold grievances and the movement will go underground.

Underground movements tend to resort to violent tactics....we see this already in the southern provinces here in Thailand...and we have seen it before in Northern Ireland, the Basque country, Palestine etc

The only hope for a peaceful outcome is negotiation

Completely agree, unfortunately, the reds cannot/will not negotiate, it would seem that they are only capable of making demands!

FF

Don't be silly, Abhisit refused to talk last time when the reds softened their demands....

That's not true. The talks were going on behind the scenes. Neither you nor I nor anyone else here knows exactly what was the reason the talks were not successful.

[way2muchcoffee]

I think you have got it wrong, he was facing a building (or turning slowly) when he was shot at close range...it couldn't have been the military as they were at least 200yards away...he fell towards the military..must have been a boomerang bullet?

I thought that rubber bullets were fired from M79 grenade launchers, you know, 40mm diameter and about 300mm long, they're bounced along the road so that they hit the protesters in the legs???

How do you know he was shot at close range? Why do you think the direction he fell indicates the direction he was shot from?

Hey you should start to learn easy things like being alive. You know, 40mm diameter? You know 300mm long? What the heck's wrong with your millimeters????

You've lost me I'm afraid, how about a plain answer? I'll make it easy—just answer the second question. Since a bullet passing through your head imparts relatively little kinetic energy, it's unlikely to effect the direction you fall.

Your go.

That may be true but the entire back of the guy's head was blown off. It takes one heck of a lot of change in moment to disintegrate the better part of a skull.

[niveknedwob]

What is with this 'George' - on a 'closed, thread' (the 'Daily update thingy').

"Hey, nothing gets between a Thai and a meal! Everyone should have that priority straight!!

TODAYS PICK: Kwanchai's escape to McDonalds: http://twitpic.com/1j2pkd (Photo by photo_journ)

@tiggervince: Does all the red protesters get to enjoy a Happy Meal from Mac's after being back in Rajprasong or only the leader does? "

So, other people can not respond - but you can put petty-<deleted> remarks up ... AS YOU ARE THE BOSS.

You have just lost your credibility.

It is a 'read only' thread ... 'in the voice of ONE PERSON' - then it should be banned !

No more to say.

Regards,

Kevin

[OzMick]

I think that using force by Abhisit is absolutely the wrong thing to do.

It may disperse the crowd but it will NOT kill off the movement, peopel will still bear grudges and hold grievances and the movement will go underground.

Underground movements tend to resort to violent tactics....we see this already in the southern provinces here in Thailand...and we have seen it before in Northern Ireland, the Basque country, Palestine etc

The only hope for a peaceful outcome is negotiation

Completely agree, unfortunately, the reds cannot/will not negotiate, it would seem that they are only capable of making demands!

FF

Don't be silly, Abhisit refused to talk last time when the reds softened their demands....

............to an extra 15 days in exchange for an amnesty for inciting/committing terrorism. How could you refuse that?

[elcent]

Does anybody think they want witnesses when the full crackdown starts?

And you are Pro yellow? Lets hope it doesnt get to that stage.

The scenario you describe could be avoided.

Guess how?!

clue: begins with the letter "e"

I'm neither red or yellow.

The problem now is that it is dragging on for much to long, nearly to the point of no return for either side.

When an incident happens, they give each other time to regroup again or even worse to extend their activities.

From tomorrow on, when PAD will visit 40 army camps to ask for intervention, good advice for everyone. - Watch out.

You never know what's going on behind the face you're looking at.

Abhisit, even when he would decide to quit has no more influence and never had. The scripts were written before him and he ignored it, or mingled to much about it.

One step forward and two steps back.

I prophesied a long time ago that he'd get burned by taking on the premiership.

[lannarebirth]

What is with this 'George' - on a 'closed, thread' (the 'Daily update thingy').

"Hey, nothing gets between a Thai and a meal! Everyone should have that priority straight!!

TODAYS PICK: Kwanchai's escape to McDonalds: http://twitpic.com/1j2pkd (Photo by photo_journ)

@tiggervince: Does all the red protesters get to enjoy a Happy Meal from Mac's after being back in Rajprasong or only the leader does? "

So, other people can not respond - but you can put petty-<deleted> remarks up ... AS YOU ARE THE BOSS.

You have just lost your credibility.

It is a 'read only' thread ... 'in the voice of ONE PERSON' - then it should be banned !

No more to say.

Regards,

Kevin

I saw it as a small bit of levity in what have been many anxious and worrying days. Nice one George, and so true.

[Theoutsider]

I hope the monsoon come's and wash away all the scum of the street.

[jamieson]

The more of this - the better for the country.

scene from vietnam war?

or pol pot's man being caught?

[viking75]

What is with this 'George' - on a 'closed, thread' (the 'Daily update thingy').

"Hey, nothing gets between a Thai and a meal! Everyone should have that priority straight!!

TODAYS PICK: Kwanchai's escape to McDonalds: http://twitpic.com/1j2pkd (Photo by photo_journ)

@tiggervince: Does all the red protesters get to enjoy a Happy Meal from Mac's after being back in Rajprasong or only the leader does? "

So, other people can not respond - but you can put petty-<deleted> remarks up ... AS YOU ARE THE BOSS.

You have just lost your credibility.

It is a 'read only' thread ... 'in the voice of ONE PERSON' - then it should be banned !

No more to say.

Regards,

Kevin

and big ironic that news all is Nation and TAN mostly and posted by WEBFACT good joke but up to people if they stupid and only read that thread and not research to look at proper news.

all news can we find in internet now so stop complain about closed thread. is useful to remind me to go to bbc or cnn if want to know truth about what they say

[jcbangkok]

mobiles and internet will be switched off or only limited time available.

Unless you have some kind of printed facts to back this up please do not post inflammatory hearsay.

During the 1992 Marshall law, all communication was cut, or limited and/or extremely censored, like TV. BBC, CNN and all the others had to smuggle their tapes to secret satellite connections in order to get it out. Those, like from CNN when the palace hotel was raided got their tapes confiscated, even when they showed a letter from the gov to work for them. I was standing next to them when they negotiated and confiscated parts. They agreed to take part out and gave the harmless rest back to them. From others they took all of it. Some TV reporters had their stuff hidden on the ceilings during the raids, still some got caught and confiscated.

Every road intersection was manned with soldiers. Army and police teams were around in teams on bikes to clear(and often kill) people during curfew hours. Most of the videos you see online about that time were made by the army themselves, showing the more harmless side of the brutality. Phone lines were jammed or cut off during the operation. Just a few lines worked. The German head of a TV station didn't even know while on the plane to Bangkok that a massive crackdown is taking place. Not even when he arrived at the airport.

Does anybody think they want witnesses when the full crackdown starts?

This is not 1992 and we can only speculate that ML would even be needed. And if it was needed what would be the reason for needing it. Actually almost seems pointless to talk about because of this but that doesn't ever stop us here.

What I could see is if things got more out of hand they might do it to avoid innocent casualties by telling everyone to stay off the streets and remain home while they confronted what I am assuming would be something like uncontrolled mobs of armed people running wild in the streets destroying property and life. As for the cutting of communications ... I only see this happening if there was broadcast outlets coordinating with the insurgents regarding planning attacks and where authority were positioned and moving and so on. There is a slight possibility that they would want a blackout to not have people joining the insurgency but my guess is that all those people wanting to join would already be out. The Thai media already doesn't really report many things live and we never see clips of stuff until hours after it happens. I just don't see them blocking news reports but do see them asking the media to be responsible which is already part of the Emergency Act.

As for cell phones. Hmmm, If it didn't get the foreign press in an uproar (might prevent them from reporting) it "might" be a good idea to kill reception in the immediate area of where the actions are taking place. I've already wondered if it was possible to jam reception just in the area the reds are currently occupying. The problem with doing this is that you basically would be cutting off Thais for calling for help since few have land lines. Plus I believe the military and police would need open cell lines for secure and private communications. So, I am not really sure this would happen.

But again, this is not 1992 and I really don't see this government doing this except for the part of keeping people off the streets while police/military actions are happening.

Martial law has been declared numerous times in cities in the US and there was never a need for these types of actions except for the keeping people off the streets part. This alone would make addressing the situation of the protesters much easier because the only people on the street would clearly be law breakers bent on confrontation. Remember also that this Government is going well beyond playing it safe in terms of what western societies would do in the same situation. We can debate on the censorship thing but censorship has always been part of the Asian laws and there is no way that a subversive TV or Radio station would be allowed to operate even in peaceful times if it advocated violence, lawlessness or an overthrow of the gov't in the western world. You can call it censorship too but in the US there are MANY things that are illegal to do on the airwaves which are controlled and monitored. Funny thing is though most of these laws don't apply to cable.

[OzMick]

I think you have got it wrong, he was facing a building (or turning slowly) when he was shot at close range...it couldn't have been the military as they were at least 200yards away...he fell towards the military..must have been a boomerang bullet?

I thought that rubber bullets were fired from M79 grenade launchers, you know, 40mm diameter and about 300mm long, they're bounced along the road so that they hit the protesters in the legs???

How do you know he was shot at close range? Why do you think the direction he fell indicates the direction he was shot from?

Hey you should start to learn easy things like being alive. You know, 40mm diameter? You know 300mm long? What the heck's wrong with your millimeters????

You've lost me I'm afraid, how about a plain answer? I'll make it easy—just answer the second question. Since a bullet passing through your head imparts relatively little kinetic energy, it's unlikely to effect the direction you fall.

Your go.

Well offissa, I think your science sux. As the point of impact was well above the centre of gravity, and about twice as far from the turning point of his feet, even if the bullet only lost a small part of its KE, the tendency would be to fall in the direction of travel of the projectile. To put it more simply, if I gave you a slap on the back of your head, would you fall towards my hand?

[xminator]

I'm wondering ...assuming that the Democrats will be dissolved by the constitution court, won't Puea Thai automatically have the majority in the house? Since the Democrats will be banned from politics and their MP seats taken away.

No, only a few democrat MPs will be banned, mostly executives. This is not like the PPP case where a large number of MPs where accused of vote buying. Abhisit will fall.

The MPs will be without a party and have to join another party within a set number of days. Not sure if they are allowed to vote in parliament while they seek new party, but I would guess so. There is also some rules about what parties they can join. PT where registered long time before PPP where dissolved.

[jcbangkok]

I hope the monsoon come's and wash away all the scum of the street.

Couldn't resist ...

[yoshiwara]

it is obvious that we are witnessing a similar uprising to that in Tsarist Russia

No. The uprising here has no relation to what happened in Russia. You are so very very wrong.

Go back and read a little more about history.

Gotta say,dont dont remember reading in the history books the Bolsheviks being paid to close down Moscow.

Look into the trains of gold as funding for the soc' revolutionaires. Who was Russia fighting atthe time? - Germany. Where did the gold come from?

Who were the backers? You would be surprised. Cui bono?

Here is a starter for you: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacob_Schiff

Of course it's not quite that simple..

Now we know where you are coming from and it isn't from the left.

[xminator]

Also why aint Thaivisa posting news about the democrat dissolution case. Today the Constitution court accepted EC's case involving 28 (or was it 29...) million baht. The democrats have 15 days to present their defence. That case is moving much faster then anticipated, and will be hard for the Democrats to stall. Might see a ruling before june?

[elcent]

I'm wondering ...assuming that the Democrats will be dissolved by the constitution court, won't Puea Thai automatically have the majority in the house? Since the Democrats will be banned from politics and their MP seats taken away.

No, only a few democrat MPs will be banned, mostly executives. This is not like the PPP case where a large number of MPs where accused of vote buying. Abhisit will fall.

The MPs will be without a party and have to join another party within a set number of days. Not sure if they are allowed to vote in parliament while they seek new party, but I would guess so. There is also some rules about what parties they can join. PT where registered long time before PPP where dissolved.

there are two cases going on, one could lead to dissolve the democrats and the other as you said above. The later case was submitted last Monday and accepted.

But as we all know, the letter of the law kills. Don't dream bubbles, according to the letter of law they will most likely get dissolved. This is also when PAD will come into action with their newly founded party, apart for asking the army to get in.

... according to the script ...

[jcbangkok]

I'm wondering ...assuming that the Democrats will be dissolved by the constitution court, won't Puea Thai automatically have the majority in the house? Since the Democrats will be banned from politics and their MP seats taken away.

No, only a few democrat MPs will be banned, mostly executives. This is not like the PPP case where a large number of MPs where accused of vote buying. Abhisit will fall.

The MPs will be without a party and have to join another party within a set number of days. Not sure if they are allowed to vote in parliament while they seek new party, but I would guess so. There is also some rules about what parties they can join. PT where registered long time before PPP where dissolved.

Will Abhist fall if he didn't have any knowledge of the crime/violation?

It is great they have laws to try to keep these guys clean but it seems this law (with my limited knowledge of it) is a bit over the top. Shouldn't they just be holding those involved accountable? Even in the US typically illegal contributions are just given back unless there was some grand scheme going on and then they usually got a fall guy for that.

But the good (or is it bad) news is that this clearly shows that there are ways to deal with issues legally in Thailand and not resort to violence. In fact, the reds had/have every opportunity to go to the courts and show this government is illegal if indeed it is true. They clearly have no issues using the court system to their gain and have used them repeatedly but not for the big issue they claim is at the root of all this.

[monkfish]

Also why aint Thaivisa posting news about the democrat dissolution case. Today the Constitution court accepted EC's case involving 28 (or was it 29...) million baht. The democrats have 15 days to present their defence. That case is moving much faster then anticipated, and will be hard for the Democrats to stall. Might see a ruling before june?

Hopefully before the World Cup

[gregb]

not sure, but could it be that fake soldiers shot army? This looks anything else than friendly fire, sorry.

R.I.P. it's so saddening

It actually does look like friendly fire, and the fact that the army have confirmed that it was friendly fire makes it quite unnecessary to stir up any rumors. We all know the army is doing their best to blame everything on the red shirts, so for the army to come out and actually admit something must mean that there's really no doubt.

This incident is not the lethal one afaik.

Was there more than 1 friendly fire incident today?

Do you have more information regarding the lethal one?

It doesn't look like anything to me. It looks like someone rode up to the barricades at high speed without identifying himself and someone shot as their duty required them. Since the reds don't guarantee to wear red anymore, it is never clear who they are. Who is to say this person was not a red sympathizer intent on breaking down the barricade? There are watermelon soldiers you know.

If this truly was an accident, the solider who rode up in this manner was extraordinarily stupid. If this was an attempt at subterfuge by watermelon soldiers, then I congratulate the individual who did his duty.

The only thing that is crystal clear is that there would be one more person alive today if the reds would simply stop their criminal activities and go home. Chalk up another death on Thaksin's toll. His boon must be negative now. He is going to be lucky to spawn a paramecium in his next incarnation.

Very sad for yet another death. Very glad for the professionalism displayed by the government forces in this encounter. Let us hope they display this same level of determination in removing the hoodlums from Ratchaprasong.

[lannarebirth]

Also why aint Thaivisa posting news about the democrat dissolution case. Today the Constitution court accepted EC's case involving 28 (or was it 29...) million baht. The democrats have 15 days to present their defence. That case is moving much faster then anticipated, and will be hard for the Democrats to stall. Might see a ruling before june?

Incorrect. "The Democrat Party is required to submit a defence statement in 15 days of receiving the court's notice"