Rubber protesters gather near Surat Thani airport

[djlest]

Another fine example on how stupid protesters in Thailand can be.

Blocking public roads that affect (The public duh) just aggravates everyone except the gov.

it was the same with the red shirts and the yellowsd, take over an airport, take over the center of bangkok, who cares about anyone else, we want this we want that!

Its like spoilt children having a tantrum in Tescos!

Thai's get your sheet together and go and find a park and learn to demonstrate in peace and without such selfish demands that affect the innocent that are just trying to go to work or get home after a hard day.

[Thait Spot]

Looks like the rice farmers have rejected the new rice deal too

They want 14,000B per tonne instead of 13,000

And higher limits

The perfect storm

[up-country_sinclair]

I'm surprised this isn't a more active thread. If the protestors are successful at shutting down the Surat Thani airport, it will almost certainly spread to other airports in the south. The government will then need to respond with force and not just words.

[kimamey]

These rubber farmers are going to have to bend a little.

Things will bounce back. They must erase negative thoughts.

Maybe you should convey your thoughts on this matter to them. Might I suggest a letter written in French and sign it Johnnie.

[webfact]

UPDATE:
Thai rubber protesters target southern airport

SURAT THANI , September 4, 2013 (AFP) - Thousands of angry rubber farmers blocked the main entrance to an airport in southern Thailand Wednesday, increasing pressure on the government to provide assistance to cope with a price slump.

The decision to target Surat Thani airport -- used by some foreign tourists to travel to the popular island of Koh Samui -- appeared to mark an escalation in the action by the farmers.

Airport director Attaporn Nuang-udom said flights were still operating but passengers were forced to use alternative access roads.
"We have notified airlines to ask passengers to gather at a certain place and we'll send a bus to pick them up and drive them to the airport," he said.

Riot police with batons and shields stood guard near the airport, which the government has vowed to defend.
Protests by royalist activists in 2008 that paralysed Thailand's main airports dealt a heavy blow to the kingdom's economy.

"We will not allow an airport shutdown because it will affect tourism and confidence," Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnog told reporters in Bangkok.

Thailand is the world's top exporter of natural rubber and farmers say they have been hit hard by weak global markets.

"The rubber farmers' income is not enough to live," said one of the protest leaders, Manoon Uppla, 53.

"We cannot control people. Their feelings against the government are very strong," he said.

The government earlier declined demands to guarantee a rubber price of 120 baht ($3.7) per kilo -- about 50 percent higher than the current price on world markets.

Instead it proposed paying farmers 1,260 baht per rai (0.4 acres) of rubber plantation to help with production costs, along with funds to boost the efficiency of rubber processing -- an offer rejected by the protesters.

"They want us to guarantee the price at 92 baht per kilo," said Surat Thani governor Chatpong Chatraphuti, who took part in negotiations on Wednesday.

He said the government representative would take the proposal to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to consider.

Thailand has been rocked by several mass protests in recent years, with both supporters and opponents of Yingluck's brother -- fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra -- taking to the streets.

In 2010 two-month demonstrations in Bangkok by the pro-Thaksin "Red Shirts" drew 100,000 protesters at their peak before being crushed in a military crackdown under a previous government.

More than 90 people, mostly civilians, were killed during the demonstrations and nearly 1,900 were injured in Thailand's worst political bloodshed in decades.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2013-09-04

[Spare]

The "funny" thing is they want the protesters to come to bangkok instead of them going to meet them over there

Here goes my Swampy.... AGAIN.

[Pimay1]

He said the government representative would take the proposal to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to consider.

Well that's the end of that.

[Robby nz]

Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnok vows on Wednesday that the Surat Thani Airport could not fall under the control of protesting rubber farmers.

Looks like the protesters have risen to the challenge.

What a stupid thing for the minister to say.