Thai protests against amnesty bill spread to other countries

[webfact]

Thai protests against amnesty bill spread to other countries
Chanon Wongsatayanont,
Cattleya Chan,
Sopaporn Kurz
The Nation


Thai expatriates and students protest in front of the Thai Consulate in Chicago on Thursday against the amnesty bill.

BANGKOK: -- Opposition to the controversial amnesty bill has expanded beyond Thailand's borders, with Thai expatriates and students in several countries also staging their own protests.

The sound of whistles seems to be echoing around the world as Thais in a number of countries gather to express their disagreement about the bill.

There have been protests in the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and Australia - and there will likely be a few more to come.

Thais in London are planning to gather in the Old Palace Yard outside the Houses of Parliament today from 9am to 11am. About 500 people have selected "attending" on the event's Facebook page.

They will sign the petition against the amnesty bill, announce their reasons for the protest, sing the Thai national anthem and other uplifting songs and then, to further raise awareness, they will spend two minutes blowing their whistles.

Also tomorrow, at 11am in The Hague, Thais are scheduled to rally at the Thai Embassy against the amnesty bill.

In the Australian city of Melbourne, there will be another protest opposing the bill in front of Federation Square, during which protestors will wear black shirts.

The Thai Student Association of Victoria has played a major role in the propagation of news about this event.

Next Tuesday, there will be a protest in front of the Consulate General of Thailand in New York, starting at 11am. The rally is being organised by Pailin Kumsiri, Arnond Sakvoravit and Risa Atsakul.

Already this week, Thais in Frankfurt gathered on Thursday to protest against the bill, while a costume-maker along with other Thais gathered to show their opposition to the bill in front of the UN Plaza Civic Centre in San Francisco.

On Tuesday in Australia, 500 Thai students and residents in Sydney, New South Wales, and from the nearby states of Queensland and Victoria, organised a protest in front of the Thai Consulate-General, led by Pornpet Songkijanuwat and Surasak Duangrat, managing editor of Thai-OZ, a Thai-language newspaper in Australia.

Along the way, the protestors loudly called for the ousting of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and raised banners opposing the bill.

In the US Thursday at noon, Thais gathered in front of the Thai Consulate in Chicago to protest against the amnesty bill.

Meanwhile, the public outcry at home against the government-backed legislation continued unabated yesterday.

More groups of people and organisations came out publicly to protest against the proposed law that would absolve all those involved in political offences since 2004, including politicians convicted of corruption and those having committed severe crimes. Among the groups protesting against the bill yesterday were more than 1,000 staff members of the national carrier Thai Airways International, 500 officials from the Finance Ministry, and more university students and medical staff in many provinces.

The Federation of Thai Industries yesterday resolved to oppose the amnesty bill in support of the fight against corruption.

FTI chairman Payungsak Chartsutipol said the board had agreed to oppose the bill because it would absolve people convicted of corruption.

He warned, however, that the ongoing protests against the bill could lead to political confusion, and he called on those involved to help restore normalcy as soon as possible.

Payungsak insisted that FTI was an organisation with no political affiliation, and that it was merely concerned with the possible negative impact of the latest political confrontation on the country's economy.

Meanwhile, red-shirt supporters of the government - numbering a few hundred in total - held separate gatherings in Chiang Mai, Pathum Thani and Rayong yesterday to express their backing for the Pheu Thai-led administration and the amnesty bill.

Amidst the political uncertainty, Thai stocks weakened further yesterday, with the Stock Exchange of Thailand Index closing at 1,405.03 points, a decline of 20.20 points or 1.41 per cent.

Trading volume was brisk at Bt36.8 billion.


-- The Nation 2013-11-09

[NongKhaiKid]

Thais overseas please don't protest as all you will do is give Barbie an excuse to visit even more countries so she can explain the ' truth ' and how Thainess works.

[bangon04]

Feel some more internet censorship coming on?

[Roadman]

A few hundred Red Shirts in support of the Pheu Thai government and deep in the heart of Thaksin country...oh dear.

[winstonc]

every little helps...sound familiar........dont think that government are not worried ..they are..how will they explain this to mr selfish....310 mps voting in favour is nothing compared to the people on the streets..ignore them at your own peril...hope im right...ive just had a shower so i dont want any egg on my face...safe wk/end everyone

[metisdead]

Just a reminder that posts using derogatory nicknames or intentional misspelling of people’s names will be removed. If you don’t want your post to be removed, spell people’s names correctly.

[AleG]

A few hundred Red Shirts in support of the Pheu Thai government and deep in the heart of Thaksin country...oh dear.

Time for PTP/Thaksin supporters to crank the denial dial up to eleven.

Have you seen what some of those people are saying? is like they live in a parallel (un)reality.

[Baerboxer]

Certainly looks like PTPs thinker and caddie to the PM/DM got this one really wrong! Remember the leaked tape with him and the deputy DM? He thought he's got the army neutral and so let the people protest - only 10k probably.

Massively over estimates how much people can be continually fooled and lied to; and how many people really "like" him.

Now other countries media will take much more interest, and their journalists might even do some proper research on the underlying reasons why his puppet sister and regime want to whitewash him and others so badly, and why so many strata of society have mobilized to show their disgust at this blatant attempt to make one man untouchable.

Interesting days ahead

[CIHUAHUA]

5,5,5,5,5, - Protest all you like but in the end god will win and god is money. Right now as I've mentioned in another post, The Baht to Dollar exchange is getting better 31.42 to 1.

[Thait Spot]

It would be hilarious if anti government protesters in somewhere like Melbourne outnumbered the disillusioned ed shirts in their Bangkok protest

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[Baerboxer]

It would be hilarious if anti government protesters in somewhere like Melbourne outnumbered the disillusioned ed shirts in their Bangkok protest

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

Now that would indeed be funny.

Wonder if the usual clutch of PTP supporters on here - Fabby4, Richteacher, the "articulate" one etc will claim the Dems and HiSo elite are paying the people overseas to demonstrate against this truly wonderful democratically elected people's party ?

Of course, the Red Shirt thugs being mobilized will be coming purely out of their love of democracy and justice. Looks like the Red Leader - well 3 of them, have been bought brought back into the fold.

[Bagwan]

Just a reminder that posts using derogatory nicknames or intentional misspelling of people’s names will be removed. If you don’t want your post to be removed, spell people’s names correctly.

How does one decide that a misspelling is intentional or not? Is the board policy that you cannot misspell somebody's name but have free rein in the wholesale mangling of the Englsih language?

[metisdead]

Just a reminder that posts using derogatory nicknames or intentional misspelling of people’s names will be removed. If you don’t want your post to be removed, spell people’s names correctly.

How does one decide that a misspelling is intentional or not? Is the board policy that you cannot misspell somebody's name but have free rein in the wholesale mangling of the Englsih language?

It's not hard to tell when somebody is deliberately taking the mickey on some politician's names.

[Greenhill]

I hope all those protesters have valid visas for the countries they're in??!!

[GentlemanJim]

Yingluck will be screaming in her dimsum this morning. I can just imagine the tantrums in Chez Shinawatra. This will hurt her more than the protests in Bangkok, she is obsessed with image particularly her political image abroad. Not good yingluck. Start packing, the clothes you will need are not great in number, just choose outfits for weather conditions being 'dry, hot and sunny 364 days a year, and lots of sun cream'.

[JoeThePoster]

Thai protests against amnesty bill spread to other countries

Definitely a good thing, I say! All these foreign countries are hoping for stability in Taiwan where all their electronics comes from.

[Soutpeel]

Just a reminder that posts using derogatory nicknames or intentional misspelling of peoples names will be removed. If you dont want your post to be removed, spell peoples names correctly.

How does one decide that a misspelling is intentional or not? Is the board policy that you cannot misspell somebody's name but have free rein in the wholesale mangling of the Englsih language?

It's not hard to tell when somebody is deliberately taking the mickey on some politician's names.

Is Khun T. acceptable ? Or taking the mickey ?

[siampolee]

Baerboxer post # 11

Wonder if the usual clutch of PTP supporters on here - Fabby4, Richteacher, the "articulate" one etc will claim the Dems and HiSo elite are paying the people overseas to demonstrate against this truly wonderful democratically elected people's party ?

This no doubt the action overseas that caused old tulips in Amsterdam fab4 to rear up on his hind legs and drag N.A.T.O. into the matter.

Might be the only way the democrat party will get back into parliament unless they ditch abhisit and his NATO peers and reconstruct from the bottom up, but that's not going to happen either.

fab4 post # 27 Phua Thai Party links up with U.D.D.

Edited November 9, 2013 by siampolee

[jimbeam1]

Also tomorrow, at 11am in The Hague, Thais are scheduled to rally at the Thai Embassy against the amnesty bill.

I hope they will observe the two minuets silence at 11.00AM

jb1

[mrwebb8825]

I have a tear in my eye right now. *sniff* Are we witnessing the birth of a nation? Is Thailand awakening from her coma after all these years and saying; "NO Thanks! No More Setitives!" ? "Quit telling us your lies and treating us like we're stupid"? Is there a Thai version of "Hit The Road Jack" as it could be a good rally song.

[ratcatcher]

Also tomorrow, at 11am in The Hague, Thais are scheduled to rally at the Thai Embassy against the amnesty bill.

I hope they will observe the two minuets silence at 11.00AM

jb1

I trust you actually meant Monday Nov 11th?

[timewilltell]

I wonder what would happen if a few thousand foreigners got together to blow whistles and complain about something in Thailand?

[hellodolly]

Thais overseas please don't protest as all you will do is give Barbie an excuse to visit even more countries so she can explain the ' truth ' and how Thainess works.

Well right now I think she is running scared that she will be visiting them but with out a diplomat passport.

Yingluck will be screaming in her dimsum this morning. I can just imagine the tantrums in Chez Shinawatra. This will hurt her more than the protests in Bangkok, she is obsessed with image particularly her political image abroad. Not good yingluck. Start packing, the clothes you will need are not great in number, just choose outfits for weather conditions being 'dry, hot and sunny 364 days a year, and lots of sun cream'.

I really think that she is to afraid of losing her job right now to worry about her image. We have heard from her , Thaksin and Thaksin's kid wonder why the other sister is being so quiet. She apparently voted to white wash her brother then turned around and voted to stop trying to white wash her brother with other bill's.

My little bit of understanding of her is that she is plenty smart. Wonder why she is just following the party line where ever it goes and remaining silent.

[jimbeam1]

No tomorrow the 10th

Jb1

Sent from my GT-I8160 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[jimbeam1]

Sorry today the 10th

Sent from my GT-I8160 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[soundman]

Off topic video link removed from view. Please post in the appropriate topic.