Thai Gov't Renews Threat Of Force Against Red-Shirts Protesters

[mavup]

I can see why the government wants to put a stop this sort of thing.

Arisman's amazingly bizarre and confrontational speech in which he seems to go against many fronts in this latest video:

Siriraj Hospital, All Muslim Mosques, Government House, Important Ministries, Airports, Rajavithi Road, Bridges, Bank of Thailand, Commercial Banks, Military Barracks, Court of Justice, and NGO's

will all be destroyed....

"Not one of these will remain standing."

Cant see anything but white on your picture .

What is it ? Pol Pot mourners ?

Works for me and others. Try to clear your cache and old cookies.

If that doesn't work, the direct link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAmyLf3Lq0k...player_embedded

[pornsasi]

I can see why the government wants to put a stop this sort of thing.

Arisman's amazingly bizarre and confrontational speech in which he seems to go against many fronts in this latest video:

Siriraj Hospital, All Muslim Mosques, Government House, Important Ministries, Airports, Rajavithi Road, Bridges, Bank of Thailand, Commercial Banks, Military Barracks, Court of Justice, and NGO's

will all be destroyed....

"Not one of these will remain standing."

They like to do empty threats in the land of smile , both sides .

Get used to it

[Old Man River]

The Government must be seen as that they tried their utmost to prevent innocent blood being spilled during the final push.

To this end ,I would issue a deadline warning saying the assault will begin in 48 hours , block all exit and entrances to the red "village" and provide buses ,travel expenses, food etc to those who wish to return to their homes. Allow the rank and file to leave and arrest any people wanted on arrest warrants to be apprehended and dealt with.

It may just sort out the chaff from the straw.

Just reading the Twitter msgs flying by, the speculated plan is use any time between now and the 5th to warn protesters and provide what you mentioned (including free replacement ID's!). Ops will begin after the coronation celebrations on the 5th.

All complete speculation mind.

It has been announced that the government will give a final warning tomorrow, although I think it relates to taking back Lumpini and not taking back Rachaprasong. From what I have read, the "final warning" does not include an actual day for the assault. I think you are right in that it will be sometime after the 5th.

It appears there will not be an assault on Redtown as Jatuporn et.al. continue to surround themselves with women and children. On Lumpini, it is thought that the Reds have several weapons caches stashed in Lumpini which provides good cover, hence they are willing to fight to keep it.

Abhisit has brought in police from the Democrats' strongholds in the south so he doesn't have to rely on the local police who fail to arrest Reds leaders because it isn't convenient. In addition, DSI is now making headway and starting to uncover weapons caches and make arrests. From the military's side, they are in process of bringing in APC's for the assault.

I really thought Abhisit was finished, but I may have to eat my words soon. It looks like he is much tougher than I thought.

With all this going on, it appears the message is being understood by some of the Reds leaders who all of a sudden seem serious about having new discussions, although I doubt Abhisit will have any interest on dissolution until after the reshuffle in October.

See you here in a week time , to talk about the imminent crackdown .(not that i wish for any)

Again, we are talking about Lumpini. I am sure you can find it on a map. Have someone help you.

[pornsasi]

I can see why the government wants to put a stop this sort of thing.

Arisman's amazingly bizarre and confrontational speech in which he seems to go against many fronts in this latest video:

Siriraj Hospital, All Muslim Mosques, Government House, Important Ministries, Airports, Rajavithi Road, Bridges, Bank of Thailand, Commercial Banks, Military Barracks, Court of Justice, and NGO's

will all be destroyed....

"Not one of these will remain standing."

Cant see anything but white on your picture .

What is it ? Pol Pot mourners ?

Works for me and others. Try to clear your cache and old cookies.

If that doesn't work, the direct link is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eAmyLf3Lq0k...player_embedded

Yes saw it now . Thank you

[frodo]

Sangwan said it was unclear who shot her husband. "But if Abhisit hadn't ordered the dispersal operation, my husband would not have died," she said.

I especially like this "logic." If your husband wasn't part of an illegal "protest" that was ordered dispersed under an emergency decree, by the internationally recognized Government of Thailand, he wouldn't have died...

And if you didnt walk on the sidewalk when I drove there after a couple of ten bears, you wouldnt die either. In situations like this it is the international practice Mr Abhisit talks so much about that the more powerfull side - the state - also hold responsibility when pure incompetence and amateurship is shown in handling a crisis.

Did you see any european countries send armed soldiers against protesters on Mai 1st? No?

By Stingray, this blog national security journalistEye witness report said soldiers and police that are sympathizers of the red shirt fired live bullets at soldiers loyal to Prayuth and Prem-who were shooting at the red shirt.

Eye witness said soldiers loyal to Prayuth went on top of many buildings near the Cow Corale and fired live bullets onto the red shirt crowd below-killing and wounding many.

Eye witness said many soldiers and police who were involved in controlling the crowd below, once saw the murdering spree-abandoned their duty and began firing at the soldiers on to of the buildings and hit many-and the killing spree stopped.

Eye witness said if not for these soldiers and police-there would have been hundreds killed.

April 11, 2010

Conclusion

Go and figure . I heard from a poster that he saw in yahoo some blog on soldiers shooting at soldiers on the 10th april , could not find the link .

That soldier that got shot by another soldier in the head few days ago when the reds did a sortie , kind of strange event .

We dont know <deleted> is happening . Probably why Anupong is very low profile

I read the article from the originating website. A lot of hardcore red propaganda there. Hard to take seriously when Thaksinlive is the top rs link for this website, not to mention sponsorship from the PT.

Reading further into Stingrays various topics, he/she uses nothing but exaggeration and hyerbole. To state that 10 protesters were killed on April 10th in execution style is absolute rubbish. Stingray makes no mention of the fact that military leaders were assassinated or that black-shirts within the red ranks were present creating mayhem and opening fire. This writer, naturally writes how Chula refused to treat any red-shirts who were injured, which again is absolute garbage.

Interesting read, but total nonsense. I wonder if Stingray is the Aussie street beggar who is a staunch red supporter and speaker.

Edited May 3, 2010 by frodo

[mavup]

I can see why the government wants to put a stop this sort of thing.

Arisman's amazingly bizarre and confrontational speech in which he seems to go against many fronts in this latest video:

Siriraj Hospital, All Muslim Mosques, Government House, Important Ministries, Airports, Rajavithi Road, Bridges, Bank of Thailand, Commercial Banks, Military Barracks, Court of Justice, and NGO's

will all be destroyed....

"Not one of these will remain standing."

They like to do empty threats in the land of smile , both sides .

Get used to it

Threats like that get people killed. Empty or not.

Particularly that he's willing to take on all Muslims and the that hospital's patient.

Edited May 3, 2010 by mavup

[pornsasi]

It has been announced that the government will give a final warning tomorrow, although I think it relates to taking back Lumpini and not taking back Rachaprasong. From what I have read, the "final warning" does not include an actual day for the assault. I think you are right in that it will be sometime after the 5th.

It appears there will not be an assault on Redtown as Jatuporn et.al. continue to surround themselves with women and children. On Lumpini, it is thought that the Reds have several weapons caches stashed in Lumpini which provides good cover, hence they are willing to fight to keep it.

Abhisit has brought in police from the Democrats' strongholds in the south so he doesn't have to rely on the local police who fail to arrest Reds leaders because it isn't convenient. In addition, DSI is now making headway and starting to uncover weapons caches and make arrests. From the military's side, they are in process of bringing in APC's for the assault.

I really thought Abhisit was finished, but I may have to eat my words soon. It looks like he is much tougher than I thought.

With all this going on, it appears the message is being understood by some of the Reds leaders who all of a sudden seem serious about having new discussions, although I doubt Abhisit will have any interest on dissolution until after the reshuffle in October.

See you here in a week time , to talk about the imminent crackdown .(not that i wish for any)

Again, we are talking about Lumpini. I am sure you can find it on a map. Have someone help you.

Understood that .

My wife knows where is Lumpini . We are not in Bangkok now and

even if otherwise we would not go near any protest .

Anyway thanks

[jcbangkok]

[Jimi007]

From post #119 "Come on with your one sided comments

Have you considered soldiers shooting at other soldiers ? Not the protesters per say , they dont have any military training anyway .

We are talking heart and minds of soldiers here ."

I have considered that as well as The Royal Thai Police, an oxymoron, may have sided against the solders and current government for obvious reasons. It has all been said before, why repeat the obvious... As for the "protesters per say" you don't think they were ever in the Armed Forces or were ex police? Every male I do believe has to serve in "The Royal Thai Armed Forces," for a minimum of two years. So, there goes that theory. My wife went to Military School in Chon Buri for 5 years. She can shoot a gun I assure you. Many Thai's have guns, I've seen them. So, until there is video proof of who shot whom, it's all speculation. But I usually try to follow the law of the land and I do vote and write my representatives to change or disagree with some legislation... I don't take to the streets... There's my one sided comment!

Edit: spelling error

Edited May 3, 2010 by Jimi007

[Robby nz]

Personally I think the PM has done a great job in very difficult circumstances. Things have progressively moved forward till we now have very small mob with the leaders reaching for their brown pants. They don’t know what is coming or when it might come.

In the last few days look what has happened: The reds suffered 2 defeats and are now confined behind their wall (jail maybe) they know that if they try to move out they will be stopped as before.

Looking for something to do behind their wall (got to keep the troops active) they raided the hospital and it has turned into a national and international PR disaster for them.

How many nurses and doctors around the country do you think are going to vote for a red backed party? All the reds have done since the hospital invasion is to move tyres around, oh yes I saw Sae Deang live on tele slapping one of his troops around, that must have been a big loss of face maybe the general should watch his back if any shooting starts.

I said on another thread that you can’t dismantle a machine from the inside you must remove the nuts from the outside first and we see this happening every day with arrests with weapons, wonder how many of the nuts are going to tell on the boss.

I would imagine the DSI now has a large library of what the yanks call ‘mug shots’ of all the red guards and Sae Deang’s troops and a good idea of where to find them once they run and what to charge them with. After all very few of them have been shy about getting themselves on film.

All the Govt needs to do is keep saying we are coming to get you and there will be less and less each day, saw on live Thai Tele this evening that there are a hel_l of a lot of empty seats in the red camp.

Then it’s only a matter of a short time till the leaders run, who will be first? Kwanchai has already shown what he is made of and the rope trick man Mr A has the potential. I read that Weera is considered a weak link who could turn grass, If I understand correctly he has already done time so may want to talk to try to avoid more, hope he doesn’t get taken out by accidental friendly fire.

Keep up the good work Mr PM.

[pornsasi]

I can see why the government wants to put a stop this sort of thing.

Arisman's amazingly bizarre and confrontational speech in which he seems to go against many fronts in this latest video:

Siriraj Hospital, All Muslim Mosques, Government House, Important Ministries, Airports, Rajavithi Road, Bridges, Bank of Thailand, Commercial Banks, Military Barracks, Court of Justice, and NGO's

will all be destroyed....

"Not one of these will remain standing."

They like to do empty threats in the land of smile , both sides .

Get used to it

Threats like that get people killed. Empty or not.

Particularly that he's willing to take on all Muslims and the that hospital's patient.

That one on muslim yes , agree with you .

Is Arisman out his f.....g mind ?

[rabo]

Mr Kasit reportedly told them that the Thai government always adheres to the code for respecting human rights under the democratic system and has been avoiding the use of force although the Cabinet on Sunday agreed to allow the government to use force in containing the protesters, but the agreement is "only an option while the government doesn't intend to use it".

From post 1: Am I the only one that thinks this paragraph (in quotation) is absurd in so many ways it beggers belief.

Fair dinkum, I am having a great deal of trouble understanding what is being said!

This is a preemptive double-layer face saving lookback. Common in Thailand.

A couple of weeks or so ago the courts did one when it ruled that force could not be used against the protesters. When questioned, they qualified that by saying the ruling applied unless force was required.

If anything were to really happen, they would probably explain it was OK, if required, but not if actually used. Just quessing.

Tends to keep all sides happy.

[hextac]

I read the article from the originating website. A lot of hardcore red propaganda there. Hard to take seriously when Thaksinlive is the top rs link for this website, not to mention sponsorship from the PPP.

Reading further into Stingrays various topics, he/she uses nothing but exaggeration and hyerbole. To state that 10 protesters were killed on April 10th in execution style is absolute rubbish. Stingray makes no mention of the fact that military leaders were assassinated or that black-shirts within the red ranks were present creating mayhem and opening fire. This writer, naturally writes how Chula refused to treat any red-shirts who were injured, which again is absolute garbage.

Interesting read, but total nonsense. I wonder if Stingray is the Aussie street beggar who is a staunch red supporter and speaker.

Actually this has been proven by the autopsies. The question is who did it.

[mavup]

I can see why the government wants to put a stop this sort of thing.

Arisman's amazingly bizarre and confrontational speech in which he seems to go against many fronts in this latest video:

Siriraj Hospital, All Muslim Mosques, Government House, Important Ministries, Airports, Rajavithi Road, Bridges, Bank of Thailand, Commercial Banks, Military Barracks, Court of Justice, and NGO's

will all be destroyed....

"Not one of these will remain standing."

That one on muslim yes , agree with you .

Is Arisman out his f.....g mind ?

The Red Leader has certainly put the red cause against a very large segment of a society by including such a diverse list of adversaries.

[retarius]

This dovetails so well with Abhisit's conciliatory message to the Japanese....see Abhisit's road map to reconciliation thread...you've got to ask yourself are these guys in sync or what? Is this a seamless operation or what?

Personally I thought that the road map to reconciliation, while lacking details offers a better longer term promise h=than this chimp's rhetoric....

[pornsasi]

From post #119 "Come on with your one sided comments

Have you considered soldiers shooting at other soldiers ? Not the protesters per say , they dont have any military training anyway .

We are talking heart and minds of soldiers here ."

I have considered that as well as The Royal Thai Police, an oxymoron, may have sided against the solders and current government for obvious reasons. Is has all been said before, why repeat the obvious... As for the "protesters per say" you don't think were ever in the Armed forces or were ex police? Every male I do believe has to serve in "The Royal Thai Armed Forces," for a minimum of two years. So, there goes that theory. My wife went to Military School in Chon Buri for 5 years. She can shoot a gun I assure you. Many Thai's have guns, I've seen them. So, until there is video proof of who shot whom, it's all speculation. But I usually try to follow the law of the land and I do vote and write my representatives to change or disagree with some legislation... I don't take to the streets... There's my one sided comment!

Edit: spelling error

Well if you ask i would not go in the streets either , but some do and the right to protest within the law is ok in any democracy.

Anyway i guess we are beyond that now .

Yes it might very well be the police against the army , that happened long ago in Thailand .

Well yes some civilians have fire arms i suppose , not as bad as the Philippines though , but honestly i dont see this as the pattern

of violence here . more like what you said police or army versus army .

[koosdeboer]

Abhisit on CNBC

http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1483718387&play=1

[pornsasi]

This dovetails so well with Abhisit's conciliatory message to the Japanese....see Abhisit's road map to reconciliation thread...you've got to ask yourself are these guys in sync or what? Is this a seamless operation or what?

Personally I thought that the road map to reconciliation, while lacking details offers a better longer term promise h=than this chimp's rhetoric....

Yeah , sound strange to me , talk on peaceful solution , then right after , talk of crackdown .

Did Prem placed a call ?

[Old Man River]

Personally I think the PM has done a great job in very difficult circumstances. Things have progressively moved forward till we now have very small mob with the leaders reaching for their brown pants. They don’t know what is coming or when it might come.

In the last few days look what has happened: The reds suffered 2 defeats and are now confined behind their wall (jail maybe) they know that if they try to move out they will be stopped as before.

Looking for something to do behind their wall (got to keep the troops active) they raided the hospital and it has turned into a national and international PR disaster for them.

How many nurses and doctors around the country do you think are going to vote for a red backed party? All the reds have done since the hospital invasion is to move tyres around, oh yes I saw Sae Deang live on tele slapping one of his troops around, that must have been a big loss of face maybe the general should watch his back if any shooting starts.

I said on another thread that you can’t dismantle a machine from the inside you must remove the nuts from the outside first and we see this happening every day with arrests with weapons, wonder how many of the nuts are going to tell on the boss.

I would imagine the DSI now has a large library of what the yanks call ‘mug shots’ of all the red guards and Sae Deang’s troops and a good idea of where to find them once they run and what to charge them with. After all very few of them have been shy about getting themselves on film.

All the Govt needs to do is keep saying we are coming to get you and there will be less and less each day, saw on live Thai Tele this evening that there are a hel_l of a lot of empty seats in the red camp.

Then it’s only a matter of a short time till the leaders run, who will be first? Kwanchai has already shown what he is made of and the rope trick man Mr A has the potential. I read that Weera is considered a weak link who could turn grass, If I understand correctly he has already done time so may want to talk to try to avoid more, hope he doesn’t get taken out by accidental friendly fire.

Keep up the good work Mr PM.

I am with you on this.

I would add that while keeping weapons out of the Reds' hands is important, I think the DSI's arrests have a number of those so called watermelons nervous that their names will come up during interrogations.

It does appear to be unraveling, but the key is your point that the setting up of Redtown may actually cost the Reds votes in future elections. I certainly don't see it winning any votes. Newin will be the beneficiary of all this.

[britmaveric]

^pretty obvious reds will gain massively in the next election.

[Slip]

Nobody knows ,they have changed colours remember,also people staying because there ID cards have been confiscated is a myth if they want to leave they can!

The worst course of action is to try and use force now it wil not end with that and continue all over the city and country,this supposed government keeps making one bad decision after another the only way forward was to go to the country and see where that takes Thailand,i am not saying it is the answer but it will stop the bloodshed that is about to flow now.

NTD- How do you know that? Have you been talking to people at the site? Have you seen a credible report?

I have seen the suggestions that people's ID cards have been retained. It seems to me it's plausible. Do you have concrete information otherwise? (Genuine question).

[earthpig]

"Mr Kasit reportedly told them that the Thai government always adheres to the code for respecting human rights under the democratic system and has been avoiding the use of force although the Cabinet on Sunday agreed to allow the government to use force in containing the protesters, but the agreement is “only an option while the government doesn’t intend to use it”.

Whatever one may wish to say about mealy mouthed language like this, or about the hypocrisy of Mr. Kasit making any comments at all about the Red shirts activities given what he did as a Yellow, still one very positive point remains for which the gov. should be, at least in my view, congratulated. Somehow they have managed to keep the use of force to a bare minimum, no small feat given the provacations.

If anyone doubts the efficacy of this, you might wish to recall that this is the fourtieth anniversery of the killings at Kent State University in the USA by National Guardsmen of 4 student Vietnam War protestors. The protests ended there, only to explode in hundreds of other places; on the other hand, the deaths and other protests did nothing to change the course of policy. (Protests two year ealier had very much changed the course of the war, but not these.) In short, the only achievement was to radically polarize american society, and it scared many americans away from a muscular foreign policy (until bush 1 and 2 dusted off the old blueprints some two and three decades later.)

Shooting Reds would achieve nothing more, and probably do far more lasting damage, than shooting students at Kent State. Thailand should, and perhaps is, learning from their own, and others, mistakes. For that Abahsit should be commended.

[Fore Man]

At this point in the sordid saga of the protests, I have to ask...:

1. Why does the government still allow electrical power to service the red area?

2. Why they allow sustenance to be delivered?

3. How do the protesters get water? How hard would it be to turn it off or stop deliveries?

4. Where are those LRAD we keep hearing about? Properly oriented they would drive those people insane and begging for mercy. Why isn't tear gas or other repulsive odors deployed to force them out from behind their barricades where they could be arrested and/or immediately transported home?

5. Why the ringleaders have not been declared as public enemies of the state, cited for fomenting terrorism and inciting widespead civil disobedience, and then issue general orders to all authorities to shoot these 'leaders' sight? Whay aren't their bank accounts and other assets seized? There are so many actions that could be taken and by now certainly would have been taken by most countries.

I know TIT but why does the government mollycoddle these hooligans so much?

[way2muchcoffee]

From post #119 "Come on with your one sided comments

Have you considered soldiers shooting at other soldiers ? Not the protesters per say , they dont have any military training anyway .

We are talking heart and minds of soldiers here ."

I have considered that as well as The Royal Thai Police, an oxymoron, may have sided against the solders and current government for obvious reasons. Is has all been said before, why repeat the obvious... As for the "protesters per say" you don't think were ever in the Armed forces or were ex police? Every male I do believe has to serve in "The Royal Thai Armed Forces," for a minimum of two years. So, there goes that theory. My wife went to Military School in Chon Buri for 5 years. She can shoot a gun I assure you. Many Thai's have guns, I've seen them. So, until there is video proof of who shot whom, it's all speculation. But I usually try to follow the law of the land and I do vote and write my representatives to change or disagree with some legislation... I don't take to the streets... There's my one sided comment!

Edit: spelling error

Well if you ask i would not go in the streets either , but some do and the right to protest within the law is ok in any democracy.

Anyway i guess we are beyond that now .

Yes it might very well be the police against the army , that happened long ago in Thailand .

Well yes some civilians have fire arms i suppose , not as bad as the Philippines though , but honestly i dont see this as the pattern

of violence here . more like what you said police or army versus army .

I don't see it. The police won't go up against the army. They don't have the cajones for it. Yes, there is a long-standing rivalry between the police and army, but as it stands the police don't dare mess with them. It would be a slaughter. Pistols are no match for tanks.

Here's an example. My brother in law is a conscript in the army. When he comes here on leave he can ride a motorcycle with no license and no helmet throughout the streets of Bangkok. As long as he wears the army greens the police won't stop him. Not ever.

Edited May 3, 2010 by way2muchcoffee

[Old Man River]

This dovetails so well with Abhisit's conciliatory message to the Japanese....see Abhisit's road map to reconciliation thread...you've got to ask yourself are these guys in sync or what? Is this a seamless operation or what?

Personally I thought that the road map to reconciliation, while lacking details offers a better longer term promise h=than this chimp's rhetoric....

Yeah , sound strange to me , talk on peaceful solution , then right after , talk of crackdown .

Did Prem placed a call ?

Gen. Prem is now staying at the 11th. No need to place calls.

Really, where else can a group of armed insurgents (for lack of a better word) take over 2 square miles in the center of any other capital city in the world? Everyone I talk to says, 'not in my country'. Certainly not in my country either. How about yours? Could this happen in your country? I think the Thai authorities have been unbelievably patient.

[pornsasi]

From post #119 "Come on with your one sided comments

Have you considered soldiers shooting at other soldiers ? Not the protesters per say , they dont have any military training anyway .

We are talking heart and minds of soldiers here ."

I have considered that as well as The Royal Thai Police, an oxymoron, may have sided against the solders and current government for obvious reasons. Is has all been said before, why repeat the obvious... As for the "protesters per say" you don't think were ever in the Armed forces or were ex police? Every male I do believe has to serve in "The Royal Thai Armed Forces," for a minimum of two years. So, there goes that theory. My wife went to Military School in Chon Buri for 5 years. She can shoot a gun I assure you. Many Thai's have guns, I've seen them. So, until there is video proof of who shot whom, it's all speculation. But I usually try to follow the law of the land and I do vote and write my representatives to change or disagree with some legislation... I don't take to the streets... There's my one sided comment!

Edit: spelling error

Well if you ask i would not go in the streets either , but some do and the right to protest within the law is ok in any democracy.

Anyway i guess we are beyond that now .

Yes it might very well be the police against the army , that happened long ago in Thailand .

Well yes some civilians have fire arms i suppose , not as bad as the Philippines though , but honestly i dont see this as the pattern

of violence here . more like what you said police or army versus army .

I don't see it. The police won't go against the army. They don't have the cajones for it. Yes, there is a long-standing rivalry between the police and army, but as it stands the police don't dare mess with them. It would be a slaughter. Pistols are no match for tanks. My brother in law is a conscript. When he comes here on leave he can ride a motorcycle with now license and helmetless. As long as he wears the army greens the police won't stop him. Not ever.

right . probably army versus army . many soldiers from up country north

[473geo]

^pretty obvious reds will gain massively in the next election.

Especially if all the 'tainted' red leaders are carefully removed from red politics by the government.......

Leaving only one man running for power accused of having 'blood' on his hands.......

Fortunately Abhisit is sensibly making sure there is no more blood spilled that rightly or wrongly can be attributed to him.

Edited May 3, 2010 by 473geo

[pornsasi]

This dovetails so well with Abhisit's conciliatory message to the Japanese....see Abhisit's road map to reconciliation thread...you've got to ask yourself are these guys in sync or what? Is this a seamless operation or what?

Personally I thought that the road map to reconciliation, while lacking details offers a better longer term promise h=than this chimp's rhetoric....

Yeah , sound strange to me , talk on peaceful solution , then right after , talk of crackdown .

Did Prem placed a call ?

Gen. Prem is now staying at the 11th. No need to place calls.

Really, where else can a group of armed insurgents (for lack of a better word) take over 2 square miles in the center of any other capital city in the world? Everyone I talk to says, 'not in my country'. Certainly not in my country either. How about yours? Could this happen in your country? I think the Thai authorities have been unbelievably patient.

Really , did not know that .

Well in my country this protest would had been dispersed long ago using police , water canon , and tear gas .

maybe one dead at most . Plenty of arrests however , few days in the cooler at most . We never use army for this .

Since you ask ....

But Thailand seems different , yes the authority are very patient but is that by choice or because the army is divided ?

Whichever , I really cant see an end to this madness .

[Herm]

Another day gone and no action WHEN IS THE GOVERNMENT GOING TO BRING AN END TO THIS fuc_kING MUPPET SHOW???????????

It hurts tens of thousands of Thais and expats who are trying to make an honest living out here

[hextac]

At this point in the sordid saga of the protests, I have to ask...:

1. Why does the government still allow electrical power to service the red area?

2. Why they allow sustenance to be delivered?

3. How do the protesters get water? How hard would it be to turn it off or stop deliveries?

4. Where are those LRAD we keep hearing about? Properly oriented they would drive those people insane and begging for mercy. Why isn't tear gas or other repulsive odors deployed to force them out from behind their barricades where they could be arrested and/or immediately transported home?

5. Why the ringleaders have not been declared as public enemies of the state, cited for fomenting terrorism and inciting widespead civil disobedience, and then issue general orders to all authorities to shoot these 'leaders' sight? Whay aren't their bank accounts and other assets seized? There are so many actions that could be taken and by now certainly would have been taken by most countries.

I know TIT but why does the government mollycoddle these hooligans so much?

1. I asked this question to a Thai colleague and he told me they have their own generators.

2. It's very difficult to prevent as traffic is flowing past the site on all sides, and if allowed by the reds into the site. They also have a major khlong flowing through the red area.

3. See 2.

4. Given the volume coming from the rally stage I doubt LRADs would bother any of the protestors.

5. Not sure about the legalities of these, especially shooting people - which, even if "lawful" would be a PR disaster, especially intentionally. I doubt freezing bank accounts would make them surender either.