Armoured Vehicles, Army Live Bullets Will Be Used To Surround Red-Shirts From 6pm

[Jimi007]

anyone know how many red shirts left at protest site

Here you will see a photocollection showing the Rajprasong protest area. It is updated with many new photos nearly everyday. The latest update is from yesterday. Make your own estimate on how many people are there.

From what I have seen a few hours ago it's about similar today. At this time there are usually less people on the street and most are still sleeping in their tents and under the shadows of the bts tracks, condominiums, hotels and shopping malls. Usually after 5pm the people start to get up and you will see many more on the street.

If I have got time today I will shoot some more photos and upload them.

Have a good look at all those people! These are the people the army will point their guns at.

Ratchaprasong

I'm just here to show. Photos tell more than a thousand words. I'm not here to discuss politics and I will not answer any comment.

Ah, very cute photos! Hope nothing happens to this people...

[Dap]

Do they really think that using armoured personnel carriers that they will be able to disperse this crowd without getting some people killed? That would probably make the April 10 look like a children's party.

Wonder what Gen. Paochinda has to say about this?

My bet is that NO, there will be no clash and that this the government will suffer another embarassing and humiliating defeat is a game of chicken.

Every time the army sends in APC's the reds take them, What could possibly be different this time?

[hextac]

The "peaceful" reds:

http://sun2surf.com/images/sun2surf/articl...010-inter03.jpg

What exactly is happening in that photo? I see both military and red shirts there.

Also, for other people:

graphic image, look at your own risk.

Of course the army guy just fell on the street and hurt himself

One more picture with reds and army:

http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20100414/Mirva...14085655140.jpg

Another interesting point is that its almost the exact spot where the redshirt got his head blown off in the video.

[csolgosz]

The "peaceful" reds:

http://sun2surf.com/images/sun2surf/articl...010-inter03.jpg

What exactly is happening in that photo? I see both military and red shirts there.

Also, for other people:

graphic image, look at your own risk.

Old Wolf, you have just revealed your intelligence level for all to see.

This is a Red medic assisting a soldier to take care of one of their own. There are many examples of such conduct in photos. If more people had this attitude of loving others, there would be no fight. The murderous comments by the farang warmongers on these forums demanding military action indicate an entirely different sentiment...

SIGH!!!!

[dttk0009]

The "peaceful" reds:

http://sun2surf.com/images/sun2surf/articl...010-inter03.jpg

What exactly is happening in that photo? I see both military and red shirts there.

Also, for other people:

graphic image, look at your own risk.

Of course the army guy just fell on the street and hurt himself

One more picture with reds and army:

http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20100414/Mirva...14085655140.jpg

I'm just asking what's happening. Why are the red shirts there? Why isn't the military stopping them? Your second photo is much more explanatory. The first one doesn't show much except an unfortunate soul who looks badly injured.

[dobadoy]

MRT Suspends Service at Stations in Risk-areas

UPDATE : 13 May 2010

The Bangkok Metro company, operator of MRT underground train service, has announced that it will suspend service at stations located in risk-areas including Silom and Lumpini.

The service suspension will start at 6 P.M. today.

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData...?DataID=1029098

I'm confused about this. CRES says the Skytrain will not be allowed to go through the protest area, while BTS just say certain stations will be closed. Which is right? What the CRES says implies you can only go to stations on either side of Phrom Phong and Phaya Thai, but not actually travel all the way from Ekkamai to Mor Chit, or from Saphan Taksin to Ekkamai.

[whybother]

No actions YOU wouldn't gladly do if YOUR army had stolen your democracy.

But you're right, Aphisit sure looks cute and cuddly.

55555 more red propaganda.

In other news, the word "propaganda" is now to be understood as "truths the media doesn't let you say."

Maybe you can explain what you mean by the "army had stolen your democracy".

[Jerrytheyoung]

Today Thai country People will face their destiny...

Poor country People, exploited during years and centuries by the Elite, but also exploited by ambitious politicians from both sides.

They have no choice they are there for begging a little improvement for tomorrow, more for the future generations than for themselves. Generously, they put their life at stake facing History and Eternity: I wish than tomorrow will not be a bitter day.

My deepest respect

More propoganda from Jerry.

The reds got a concession from the government for new elections. There was a fair and reasonable reconciliation plan on the table that was backed by everyone including their moderate members BUT not backed by Thaksin and his cronies. They spit on reconciliation and continue to hold the entire country's economy hostage. They are armed and violent and have shown this on many occasions. They don't deserve respect at all. They deserve to be removed from this illegal protest site and tried for terrorism, sedition, insurrection, treason, failure to comply with lawful orders etc.

Those found guilty of the big 4 deserve the consequences they have worked so hard for. Those that are only guilty of failure to comply with lawful orders should be given probation and sent home. A condition of the probation should be that they refrain from joining any gathering that is illegal for the next 10 years. should they join another illegal protest they should spend time in jail.

I wish that this could end without more violence but it is my firm belief that Thaksin needs more martyrs to gain his goal ... so he'll spend red lives like water if he needs to.

"The spittle of the toad cannot reach the white dove" French proverb

[dttk0009]

The "peaceful" reds:

http://sun2surf.com/images/sun2surf/articl...010-inter03.jpg

What exactly is happening in that photo? I see both military and red shirts there.

Also, for other people:

graphic image, look at your own risk.

Old Wolf, you have just revealed your intelligence level for all to see.

This is a Red medic assisting a soldier to take care of one of their own. There are many examples of such conduct in photos. If more people had this attitude of loving others, there would be no fight. The murderous comments by the farang warmongers on these forums demanding military action indicate an entirely different sentiment...

SIGH!!!!

We don't know if the red shirt is there to treat the wounds or to confiscate the body. My point is that photo proves nothing without eye witness accounts describing the scene we see.

[timekeeper]

Monks as protesters,

this is NOT buddha's teaching,

what are they thinking?

They aren't real monks as typified by this red monk at the rally:

this ''monk' is actually Prasit Sawasdee, a 41 year-old man who was later identified as a red-shirt security guard, was arrested for possession of a .38 pistol with laser grip and 35 bullets. Apart from the weapon, police found 50,000 bath in cash, brass knuckles and a membership card for the red-shirt security guards

TAN NETWORK

3rd MAY 2010

[lazurus]

Sorry to spoil the spiel of so many farang mini-fuehrers, but the issue is very simple. If you just want 'law & order', you cheer for the guns & jackboots solution. But 6 army coups in 40 years (I've read) seem to suggest that brute force & violence solve nothing without justice. So let's have another peaceful election. But many posters don't seem to want to learn any lessons from history. Like the proverbial dog, they prefer to return to the old vomit.

It's an ominous sign of our times that many farang posters here could have been raised & educated in the Hitler Youth. Few have a clue what democracy is about. Even the worst democratically-elected government is better than the best authoritarian gang of mobsters.

Can't surrender to mob rule? Inept Mr T's democratically elected government was ousted by a mob, just it was a much better tooled-up & organized mob than the Red protesters.

Women, old people, & children present? Bah! Pity & sympathy are signs of weakness! So march in, shoot, kill. They asked for it. Heil Hitler!

How utterly, abjectly disgusting this Brute Force & Ignorance Tendency is! Are they our future globally? God help the world.

Vox populi, vox dei – a lesson the Roman empire learned from the Christians, who held that all people are equal before god. Altho the Romans (like Hitler & Stalin) were hot on law & order, they were not so hot on justice. Behind the marble facades, they were just a filthy bunch of very well-organized barbarians - lesson from history for us all there, eh? OGT

If you think there have only been 6 coups you aren't well informed. There have been 18 in Thailand's history, but if you can't figure that much out you don't know much about Thailand. Thank you for bringing up Hitler, it's what desperate people do when they have no ideas of their own and just want to inflame the argument. Sorry that law and order is so objectionable to you. Maybe you prefer the random violence of the reds and their disdain for the rights of any other group. Thaksin was elected, in a boycotted election and ousted by the army, to the pleasure of the Thai people.

[dttk0009]

Monks as protesters,

this is NOT buddha's teaching,

what are they thinking?

They aren't real monks as typified by this red monk at the rally:

this ''monk' is actually Prasit Sawasdee, a 41 year-old man who was later identified as a red-shirt security guard, was arrested for possession of a .38 pistol with laser grip and 35 bullets. Apart from the weapon, police found 50,000 bath in cash, brass knuckles and a membership card for the red-shirt security guards

TAN NETWORK

3rd MAY 2010

Holy crap, that's scary.

[agord]

Hope the army actually gets rid of them this time.

You have no right to say that. Thailand is not your home country. I would like to say more, but I would probably be suspended from Thaivisa.

Why doesn't he have the right to give his opinion? Why even have Thai Visa if we are not allowed to comment on Thailand? Most of us cannot call Thailand our home country eh or would you like to be the moderator and decide for all of us what we can and cannot comment on? because Thailand is your home country right?

Thailand is not my home country but Im going to comment on what's going on if it's alright with you I too hope the army clears them out and I hope it is done without anyone getting hurt or killed but that's totally up to the red shirts isn't it?

[SAMCHAROEN]

ZOMG! just get it over & done with!

Exactly! Whatever is going to happen just get on with it so we can all start trying to get back to some kind of normality.

PS: To all our American friends, "normalcy" is NOT an acceptable English word. Stop b*astardising our lingo.!!

What is so urgent about your normality that people should die for it? Neither normality nor normalicy for the dead, injured and families. Those so keen for everyong else "to get on with it" get yourselves armed and go join which ever side you like and put your own d*ck on the line if "getting back to normal" really means so much to you...

Normalcy is everything ... its what makes country go forward. For the familes of those who died and those who were injured there is indeed no normalcy but they have nobody else to blame other than themselves. They were asking for trouble and they got it.

As for your comment that those who care for normalcy should put their own d*ck on the line ... maybe they will.. who knows.

As far as I see it... Abhisit has finally decided to put his .

[pkspeaker]

At this point I'd love it if we had a system like China (with the exception of the 3 year olds being randomly stabbed to death part).

"Live Bullets to Be Used" - regardless of the circumstances?

I can see Thailand's international status crumbling over the next few days - to a par with China.

[MacWalen]

These guys had really good offer on the table for elections in November but most likely as the main sponsor would not benefit, he encouraged them to stay and keep upsetting people. Party is over. I wonder if the red shirts leaders will be calling Thai soldiers homosexuals today? Try from your laudspeakers as I heard yesterday some hard to understand reasons why they would not go home, use the same laudspeakers to taunt them today, will see if soldiers will be impressed.

Not nice, not nice. There should surely be more civilized way of working out political differences. So just be nice guys and go home and don't return to Bangkok to cause any more trouble.

Let there be peace.

Edited May 13, 2010 by macwalen

[TheOldWolf]

The "peaceful" reds:

http://sun2surf.com/images/sun2surf/articl...010-inter03.jpg

What exactly is happening in that photo? I see both military and red shirts there.

Also, for other people:

graphic image, look at your own risk.

Of course the army guy just fell on the street and hurt himself

One more picture with reds and army:

http://www.presstv.ir/photo/20100414/Mirva...14085655140.jpg

I'm just asking what's happening. Why are the red shirts there? Why isn't the military stopping them? Your second photo is much more explanatory. The first one doesn't show much except an unfortunate soul who looks badly injured.

I jjust show some picture to contrast Tallforeigners quit pictures of old people and small children. and that the reds are not so friendly as it looks on his pictures.

On the picture with the injured soldier, I don´t think the one at the right looks so friendly.

[Herm]

Wonder if this is the little girls toy ??

or does it belong to her parents ..... I know its the reds favorite firework that uncle Sae Deng got for them M79 grenade launcher loaded

Edited May 13, 2010 by Herm

[siampolee]

this ''monk' is actually Prasit Sawasdee, a 41 year-old man who was later identified as a red-shirt security guard, was arrested for possession of a .38 pistol with laser grip and 35 bullets. Apart from the weapon, police found 50,000 bath in cash, brass knuckles and a membership card for the red-shirt security guards

If one looks closely at the picture at the left hand side of the black bag you can see an antenna appearing almost like a satellite phone.

Could it be a case of ''Phone Montenegro Home Mr.T.''?

[morejunk]

From Bangkok Post: Live ammunition would be used - fired into the sky to scare away attackers, to protect the lives of security personnel, and to shoot armed assailants.

Sure is good thing that the bullets are not dangerous when fired into the sky and don't come back down at dangerously high volocity. Also all those high buildings in the area shouldn't be a problem with those bullets shot into the sky. The laws of physics don't seem to apply to Thai bullets. The government also seems to have its fair share of idiot leaders. Shoot straight down into the ground or roads, you idiots!

Bullets won't bounce of the road mate?

Indeed, it would be a higher casualty rate from that... morejunk tries to be clever...

and branding someone as idiots while making such a well-thought out remark. boggles the mind. even for stupid people like me.

If you are going to quote then don't leave part of it out. Maybe your attention span wasn't long enought to understand what I was saying. Shoot straight down into the ground or roads, you idiots! Let the flak hit the reds.

To help un-boggle your simple mind: The bullet breaks up and there is flak. Let it be the red shirts that get injured and not some innocent person getting hit by a falling bullet.

[lannarebirth]

Monks as protesters,

this is NOT buddha's teaching,

what are they thinking?

They aren't real monks as typified by this red monk at the rally:

this ''monk' is actually Prasit Sawasdee, a 41 year-old man who was later identified as a red-shirt security guard, was arrested for possession of a .38 pistol with laser grip and 35 bullets. Apart from the weapon, police found 50,000 bath in cash, brass knuckles and a membership card for the red-shirt security guards

TAN NETWORK

3rd MAY 2010

Man, this whole thing reads like an Elmore Leonard novel, only even he doesn't have this much imagination.

Edited May 13, 2010 by lannarebirth

[Old Man River]

MRT Suspends Service at Stations in Risk-areas

UPDATE : 13 May 2010

The Bangkok Metro company, operator of MRT underground train service, has announced that it will suspend service at stations located in risk-areas including Silom and Lumpini.

The service suspension will start at 6 P.M. today.

http://www.thailandoutlook.tv/tan/ViewData...?DataID=1029098

I'm confused about this. CRES says the Skytrain will not be allowed to go through the protest area, while BTS just say certain stations will be closed. Which is right? What the CRES says implies you can only go to stations on either side of Phrom Phong and Phaya Thai, but not actually travel all the way from Ekkamai to Mor Chit, or from Saphan Taksin to Ekkamai.

Certain stations will be closed. You can go from Ekkamai to Mor Chit or from Saphan Thaksin to Ekkami. The trains will not stop at Siam, Chidlom, Ploenchit and Rajdamri. In other words, the train will act as an express skipping these stations, depending on which BTS line you are going on.

[dttk0009]

I jjust show some picture to contrast Tallforeigners quit pictures of old people and small children. and that the reds are not so friendly as it looks on his pictures.

On the picture with the injured soldier, I don´t think the one at the right looks so friendly.

True, and I agree that there is a very dangerous element to the red shirts, no need to look further than a few posts back. Those robes are probably pretty good at concealing a firearm. Wouldn't be shocked to find out that the gun was used sometime in the last 2 months. I'm also afraid that a good number of people at the rally are totally unaware of this element. The women and children in those photos are as real as the mob in your photo and they're wearing the same colors. The red shirts are a political movement with an armed wing, and they've set up camp smack in the middle of an urban city. It's a very tricky situation.

[whybother]

Certain stations will be closed. You can go from Ekkamai to Mor Chit or from Saphan Thaksin to Ekkami. The trains will not stop at Siam, Chidlom, Ploenchit and Rajdamri. In other words, the train will act as an express skipping these stations, depending on which BTS line you are going on.

You can't go from Saphan Taksin to Ekkami without stopping at Siam. You would only go to National Stadium (at one end of the red fortress).

edit: are they closing Saladaeng BTS too? I think Silom MRT will be closed.

Edited May 13, 2010 by whybother

[agord]

The government has a short memory. This crackdown won't work. People will die. It will create further rifts in society. At some point there will be elections and slightly less than 50% of Thais will vote reds. Discussion is best.

LOL discussion is best? I thought it has been discussed to death and to what result? You would have this continue for how long?

[Herm]

By the way, I only read about using armored vehicles to surround the area - nothing about going in to clear the mob

[pkspeaker]

When the Yellow shirts occupied the airport they said the crackdown wasn't ordered because the police and army were loyal to the yellowshirts, now they're loyal to the redshirts..they must be loyal to shirts in general, if your wearing a shirt, go and give an order to the army and they'll do what ever you want.

Well let's see. The government has been more than patient in my humble opinion. They can't let this drag on. Had this been China and may other places the Reds would have been forced out long ago. I hope that no one is killed,but if they are so stupid to think they can over throw the government which has the support of the police and army, they are mad.

If the Government really had the support of the Police and Army, well this would have been over long ago. You forget that most of the Police and Army come from, and have families in the East and North, these people primarily come from poor rural families.....so their loyalties lie with whom do you think ??????

[mazeltov]

Today Thai country People will face their destiny...

Poor country People, exploited during years and centuries by the Elite, but also exploited by ambitious politicians from both sides.

They have no choice they are there for begging a little improvement for tomorrow, more for the future generations than for themselves. Generously, they put their life at stake facing History and Eternity: I wish than tomorrow will not be a bitter day.

My deepest respect

like their daughters exploiting foreign men online and cheating you for your money everywhere you go. boo hoo

hard feelings?

that sexy lady you met online and send your money to was probably just another bloke like you.

[dobadoy]

These guys had really good offer on the table for elections in November but most likely as the main sponsor would not benefit, he encouraged them to stay and keep upsetting people. Party is over. I wonder if the red shirts leaders will be calling Thai soldiers homosexuals today? Try from your laud speakers as I heard yesterday some hard to understand reasons why they would not go home, use the same laud speakers to taunt them today, will see if soldiers will be impressed.

Not nice, not nice. There should surely be more civilized way of working out political differences. So just be nice guys and go home and don't return to Bangkok to cause any more trouble.

Let there be peace.

Yep, there's a lot of hate, homophobia, and incitement to violence coming out of those loudspeakers in thai that is not being reported. these people don't want peace and never did. The reason is that history shows the thai public do not forgive those that 'crackdown' on protesters - this IS a peace-loving culture and violence is - at least in retropspect - always aborred.

That's why Anupong has resisted all calls to do anything, and its why the Reds keep pushing, and its why - ultimately - Abhisit will have to accept that the only way to solve this problem is to face that public backlash at a later date. They've bent over backwards to play fair, but at the end of the day it seems to me that the Thai publich will punish the gov't just as much for allowing anarchy to reign.

There is surely a regiment or two somewhere loyal to Anupong/Prayuth, and disciplined enough, to go in and get this over with. All along its been the generals refusing to act, but I really can't see how they could ever expect to gain the public's trust in the future if they continue to do nothing. The political way has been tried, the Reds way has been tried, every way has been tried. So, perhaps the only choice is to give them what they want, and take your chances as to how sympathetic the public really are.

[MacWalen]

Chunky1, how long is supposed to be this discussion? Especially with monks walking around with loaded guns? What next? Do you live in Bangkok? If you do not then you cannot really feel how upset people are.

Edited May 13, 2010 by macwalen