PDRC claims 6 million people in Bangkok turn out to protest yesterday

[LuukKoeyKorat]

For sure...to include the conurbations of Cha-Am, Hua Hin, Chonburi, the daily 80,000 tourists passing through Swampy........

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Live_aid_londres_propiedad_propia.JPG/361px-Live_aid_londres_propiedad_propia.JPG

That was officially 72,000 people. I'm sure everyone remembers that great afternoon.

Quite a mass of bodies, wouldn't you agree?

Now multiply that image by 83 - and you'll get to approx 6 million people. Put simply, the entire population of Laos would have walked around the streets of Krung Thep yesterday afternoon.

I've seen all of the photos of the demo yesterday....somehow...just somehow.....these numbers thrown around by PDRC don't seem to make much sense to me.

Just my 6,000,000 Setang's worth....

The population of BKK is 6.3 million (granted it's actually probably closer to 10 million). Are we sure they weren't just including everyone that happened to be in and around central Bangkok in these calculations?

[Mampara]

Who really cares?

That is why this beautiful country is in the state that it is, because "too few really care".

[BeforeTigers]

BBC estimate was 150,000. That's almost six million.

Yes, yes.

Because we've all seen how completely neutral the coverage of these events has been in the western media.

I'm certain they had no trouble coming up with the count of rebellious anti-democratic rich educated city "elite" (man, do they love that word) that came out to piss on the dreams of these good natured, hard-scrabble, salt of the earth, poor country folk that support a maybe-sorta-kinda-probably politically motivated alleged fugitive Thaksin.

=\

I'm not picking a side. I'm just sayin; I read the coverage and it make The Man look like the underdog saviour of all Thai people.

I take my BBC/CNN/New York Times/Anything in the English language just as skeptically as I do local coverage.

That's just me.

Edited December 23, 2013 by BeforeTigers

[scorecard]

If there were 6 million supporters out on the streets then there should be many more silent supporters. Dont see no reason why the dems then dont contest the election to win a majority and then carry on with their reforms.

Well is this just about the dems? Is it just an activity to try to get a win for the dems? NO and NO.

Suggest you read a bit more broadly and get a better understanding of the ultimate longer-term objection of the protests.

Edited December 23, 2013 by scorecard

[scorecard]

For sure...to include the conurbations of Cha-Am, Hua Hin, Chonburi, the daily 80,000 tourists passing through Swampy........ alt=rolleyes.gif pagespeed_url_hash=2070704717 width=20 height=20>

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Live_aid_londres_propiedad_propia.JPG/361px-Live_aid_londres_propiedad_propia.JPG

That was officially 72,000 people. I'm sure everyone remembers that great afternoon.

Quite a mass of bodies, wouldn't you agree?

Now multiply that image by 83 - and you'll get to approx 6 million people. Put simply, the entire population of Laos would have walked around the streets of Krung Thep yesterday afternoon.

I've seen all of the photos of the demo yesterday....somehow...just somehow.....these numbers thrown around by PDRC don't seem to make much sense to me.

Just my 6,000,000 Setang's worth....

The population of BKK is 6.3 million (granted it's actually probably closer to 10 million). Are we sure they weren't just including everyone that happened to be in and around central Bangkok in these calculations?

Actually I noticed a recent report that the daytime real population of Bkk is now 12 to 13 million, I'll try to find it again.

Plus, it's possible that a not small number of folks came in from nearby provinces: Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Minburi, Chonburi. etc.

Edited December 23, 2013 by scorecard

[Puccini]

Sometimes I read about the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC),at other times about the the People's Committee for Absolute Democracy, both led by Suthep Thaugsuban. What is the difference between these two committees? Who are the committee members, in addition to Suthep?

[LuukKoeyKorat]

Doesn't really matter what the numbers were they proved their point that they can bring the center of BKK to a standstill, showing that they can do it again.

If there are no serious moves towards reform in the very near future and the election goes ahead on 2 Feb then it will happen again and it will be for a longer period next time.

Over to you Yingluck wherever you are hiding.

The numbers quoted are not reliable nor even close. It would have been physically impossible to fit all of those people in the protest zones.

The only numbers that count will be at the ballot box.

lol some of you guys really craic me up

You are right when you mention just the protest Zones but you must also consider all access roads and areas around these zones were rammed with people as far as the eye could see, also consider that these numbers reflect only those that made it to Bangkok - there were also protest in other cities, you could be looking at a total country wide count of as much as 20 million - now that is one protest that any government should be taking notice and not ignoring their demands - I noticed Yingluc was staying close to the Northern Border

Does it really matter if it was 4 million or 6 million 20 million - it was a massive show of people power and is still falling on deaf ears

Quantitative area counting from the air is not new and is considered accurate

Come on, there was nowhere near 2,3 or 4 million people on the streets (even collectively) yesterday. Do you have any idea what a crowd that size looks like?? These are inflated figures to serve a purpose. But add however many peeps you want who didn't turn up to BKK but uttered their complaints between dinner and evening Lakorn. I agree with you is that there are a lot of people pissed off with the current political status quo, and its I think its not falling on deaf ears - but the way the current opposition and protest movement is operating is not acceptable. That's the crux of the matter.

[casindonet]

With the maths used in thailand, rather surprise it was only 6 instead of 60.

Sent from my GT-I9200 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[PatOngo]

If only the politicians read Thai Visa.........the answers are ALL here.

[davejones]

You tend to lose credibility of you come up with figures like these. I read beforehand that the roads has enough space for about 2 million people, so where were the other 6 million.6 million over 10 sites is 600,000 per site on average. None of the pics looks like there are over 100,000. I'd guess at 200,000-500,000. But not everyone was there at the same time. Some left early and others arrived late. But 6 million. I find that hard to believe.

[edwardandtubs]

Although not very precise, Satit is quite accurate.

The stage claimed that BBC reported 5 million came out in the last march.

This time I have a feeling that it is a little bit more, so 6 million is about right.

The stage are total BS merchants. They were claiming the BBC were reporting 5 million last time when they were in fact reporting 50,000. The idea that over half the population of Bangkok were crammed into those rally sites is so ridiculous you have to wonder about their sanity.

[ThaiTrav]

Although not very precise, Satit is quite accurate.

The stage claimed that BBC reported 5 million came out in the last march.

This time I have a feeling that it is a little bit more, so 6 million is about right.

.....and all this achieved ????????????

[Emptyset]

For sure...to include the conurbations of Cha-Am, Hua Hin, Chonburi, the daily 80,000 tourists passing through Swampy........ alt=rolleyes.gif pagespeed_url_hash=2070704717 width=20 height=20>

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/eb/Live_aid_londres_propiedad_propia.JPG/361px-Live_aid_londres_propiedad_propia.JPG

That was officially 72,000 people. I'm sure everyone remembers that great afternoon.

Quite a mass of bodies, wouldn't you agree?

Now multiply that image by 83 - and you'll get to approx 6 million people. Put simply, the entire population of Laos would have walked around the streets of Krung Thep yesterday afternoon.

I've seen all of the photos of the demo yesterday....somehow...just somehow.....these numbers thrown around by PDRC don't seem to make much sense to me.

Just my 6,000,000 Setang's worth....

The population of BKK is 6.3 million (granted it's actually probably closer to 10 million). Are we sure they weren't just including everyone that happened to be in and around central Bangkok in these calculations?

Actually I noticed a recent report that the daytime real population of Bkk is now 12 to 13 million, I'll try to find it again.

Plus, it's possible that a not small number of folks came in from nearby provinces: Pathum Thani, Nonthaburi, Minburi, Chonburi. etc.

I'm sure they did, but you surely can't be defending the 6 million statement as in any way credible? If they'd said 400,000, I wouldn't have believed that either, but at least it doesn't sound *that* ridiculous. I think a fair estimate would be 160 - 200,000... but it's very difficult to get an accurate figure with people spread over different sights. The pictures from Rajaprasong looked similar to the red shirt crowd when it was estimated at 80,000. Likely to have a similar crowd at Democracy, plus 10 - 20,000 spread around the other sides. So 180,000 sounds very reasonable as a ball park figure.

[bigbamboo]

No way was the figure anywhere near six million but I imagine BB is feeling a bit peeved just now that so many did turn up and Suthep didn't have to come up with an excuse to cancel his event because of a massive no show..

[Sunderland]

I doubt there were 6 million either, but there were a lot of people. Has anyone ever really seen a crowd of 6 million protesting? No.

When 100,000 people protest in London, does it mean that only those 100,000 people care about the issue? No.

Was it only Bangkokians protesting yesterday? No.

I live in northern Bangkok and the protests were reasonably large at Ladprao intersection and Saphan Mai on the way to Prathum Thani. These weren't even among the main protest sites that were advertised.

Was it a big protest yesterday? Absolutely.

I would love to see 15 million red shirt protesters come out on the streets at once. Of course it won't happen unless there's something in it for them like a pay cheque.

[Thailand]

Apparently the drones were looking through rose colored spectacles.

[fab4]

Perhaps we can throw out the numbers and simply reach a very broad consensus - there were a lot of people ! More important than the numbers is the message it has sent, and it's an impressive message by any definition. Local broadcasts may have been stymied somewhat in terms of coverage, but the international media has definitely taken note. The effectiveness of the protests is really only measured by one thing - the degree that they cause the government to act, and by that measure alone there has been a flurry of movement. When the amnesty bill was passed in the dead of night, early November 1, PTP went about their subsequent day, quite smug in the conviction that they " got away with it ". Well, life is very different for this government, and this party. And likely will remain different. This is a genie that won't be so easily put back in the bottle. A consciousness has awakened in the country. And that, my friends, is how you measure the protests !

If the PDRC have the brass balls to lie with such arrogance on the numbers attending their rallies, how confident are you that they would tell the truth on something more, shall we say, potentially devastating such as when they deem Thailand is ready for democracy again, once their "peoples council" is installed?

[waza]

Doesn't really matter what the numbers were they proved their point that they can bring the center of BKK to a standstill, showing that they can do it again.

If there are no serious moves towards reform in the very near future and the election goes ahead on 2 Feb then it will happen again and it will be for a longer period next time.

Over to you Yingluck wherever you are hiding.

The numbers quoted are not reliable nor even close. It would have been physically impossible to fit all of those people in the protest zones.

The only numbers that count will be at the ballot box.

The numbers are not as the trend and the message that trend relays. The trend is that the numbers of protestors is increasing and this protest movement is still growing. More people are getting off the fence and voting with their feet, while other have had the epiphany that the Thaksin proxy government is ego centric and corrupt not socialist. The message is that they are tired of corrupt governments that change the laws and constitution to suit their own agenda, they will no longer tolerate the machinations of criminals and con men within their government. They are tired of having the wool pulled over their eyes with schemes that pillage the treasure or policies implemented under the guise of helping the poor only to enslave them.

The supporters of the Yingluck government claim they have the majority but even at the height of their popularity they were unable to get these numbers to any of their sanctioned protests, even though they paid them to attend and covered their expenses. Therefore, it is further evident that the message is that the corrupt and self centered actions of this administration over the last 2 and a half years have further alienated them and reduced their mandate. They have recognised this as evidenced by the dissolution of their parliament and are now trying to engineer a victory from the jaws of defeat.

[mudscrubber]

Perhaps we can throw out the numbers and simply reach a very broad consensus - there were a lot of people ! More important than the numbers is the message it has sent, and it's an impressive message by any definition. Local broadcasts may have been stymied somewhat in terms of coverage, but the international media has definitely taken note. The effectiveness of the protests is really only measured by one thing - the degree that they cause the government to act, and by that measure alone there has been a flurry of movement. When the amnesty bill was passed in the dead of night, early November 1, PTP went about their subsequent day, quite smug in the conviction that they " got away with it ". Well, life is very different for this government, and this party. And likely will remain different. This is a genie that won't be so easily put back in the bottle. A consciousness has awakened in the country. And that, my friends, is how you measure the protests !

There's a remarkably silly conservative commentator in the US named Peggy Noonan. The day before the 2012 presidential election she cited all kinds of ad hoc and disparate observations such as crowd turnouts to support her belief that Mitt Romney was going to pull off a surprise victory. To get to this conclusion she had to deprecate the polls. The assertion here that "a consciousness has awakened in the country" seems of a piece with that: not disprovable because not provable. This is the kind of fiction people tell themselves when they can't accept reality. It may or may not be a pity that things are the way they are in Thai politics, but creating entities like "a consciousness" to comfort yourself is just sad and silly.

[Thailand]

Doesn't really matter what the numbers were they proved their point that they can bring the center of BKK to a standstill, showing that they can do it again.

If there are no serious moves towards reform in the very near future and the election goes ahead on 2 Feb then it will happen again and it will be for a longer period next time.

Over to you Yingluck wherever you are hiding.

The numbers quoted are not reliable nor even close. It would have been physically impossible to fit all of those people in the protest zones.

The only numbers that count will be at the ballot box.

The numbers are not as the trend and the message that trend relays. The trend is that the numbers of protestors is increasing and this protest movement is still growing. More people are getting off the fence and voting with their feet, while other have had the epiphany that the Thaksin proxy government is ego centric and corrupt not socialist. The message is that they are tired of corrupt governments that change the laws and constitution to suit their own agenda, they will no longer tolerate the machinations of criminals and con men within their government. They are tired of having the wool pulled over their eyes with schemes that pillage the treasure or policies implemented under the guise of helping the poor only to enslave them.

The supporters of the Yingluck government claim they have the majority but even at the height of their popularity they were unable to get these numbers to any of their sanctioned protests, even though they paid them to attend and covered their expenses. Therefore, it is further evident that the message is that the corrupt and self centered actions of this administration over the last 2 and a half years have further alienated them and reduced their mandate. They have recognised this as evidenced by the dissolution of their parliament and are now trying to engineer a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Well with no opposition in the election it wlll be a walk in the park, any park.

[waza]

Doesn't really matter what the numbers were they proved their point that they can bring the center of BKK to a standstill, showing that they can do it again.

If there are no serious moves towards reform in the very near future and the election goes ahead on 2 Feb then it will happen again and it will be for a longer period next time.

Over to you Yingluck wherever you are hiding.

The numbers quoted are not reliable nor even close. It would have been physically impossible to fit all of those people in the protest zones.

The only numbers that count will be at the ballot box.

The numbers are not as the trend and the message that trend relays. The trend is that the numbers of protestors is increasing and this protest movement is still growing. More people are getting off the fence and voting with their feet, while other have had the epiphany that the Thaksin proxy government is ego centric and corrupt not socialist. The message is that they are tired of corrupt governments that change the laws and constitution to suit their own agenda, they will no longer tolerate the machinations of criminals and con men within their government. They are tired of having the wool pulled over their eyes with schemes that pillage the treasure or policies implemented under the guise of helping the poor only to enslave them.

The supporters of the Yingluck government claim they have the majority but even at the height of their popularity they were unable to get these numbers to any of their sanctioned protests, even though they paid them to attend and covered their expenses. Therefore, it is further evident that the message is that the corrupt and self centered actions of this administration over the last 2 and a half years have further alienated them and reduced their mandate. They have recognised this as evidenced by the dissolution of their parliament and are now trying to engineer a victory from the jaws of defeat.

Well with no opposition in the election it wlll be a walk in the park, any park.

If anyone turns up to vote. and if they can govern with the streets choked with people.

Edited December 23, 2013 by waza

[Hulkster]

You better watch out, better not cry, better not pout I'm telling you why, the red shirts are coming to town!!

Let's see the resolve of the yellow bellies come February. Let's see how much fight they have left in them then.

I bet they have none. They're waiting for the military to do their dirty work.

[brit1984]

Doesn't really matter what the numbers were they proved their point that they can bring the center of BKK to a standstill, showing that they can do it again.

If there are no serious moves towards reform in the very near future and the election goes ahead on 2 Feb then it will happen again and it will be for a longer period next time.

Over to you Yingluck wherever you are hiding.

and if they do overthrow the government what will the government's supporters (i.e. the majority of Thailand's electorate) do to Bangkok next year?...

[Puccini]

Well with no opposition in the election it wlll be a walk in the park, any park.

Apparently, there are 16 active (not defunct or banned) parties. Six of them were part of Yingluck's coalition government. With one party having decided not to field any candidates in the upcoming election for members of the House of Representatives, this leaves a total of 15 parties running in the election.

[Mole]

Wow, calculations by "architect scientists with experience in urban and aerial designs". Of course it must be accurate and all that...

Do they realize just how much 6 million people really is...??

A person standing takes up roughly 1 square meter. So for one location, 2 million people, that would be 2 square kilometers if packed shoulder to shoulder.

In theory, yes. But good luck finding a 2 square kilometer open space... Maybe the Sahara desert?

[Hulkster]

Yeah, and last time I checked the red shirts don't live in Bangkok (well they do but they are the serf class). The yellow bellies shutting down BKK for a week would be cutting off their nose to spite their face.

[Gsxrnz]

Six million protestors - never. There were 200,000 protestors and 5.8 Million Som-Tum vendors.

[marstons]

Doesn't really matter what the numbers were they proved their point that they can bring the center of BKK to a standstill, showing that they can do it again.

If there are no serious moves towards reform in the very near future and the election goes ahead on 2 Feb then it will happen again and it will be for a longer period next time.

Over to you Yingluck wherever you are hiding.

Doing wonders for the country they love so much keep bringing the Capital to a stand still Neighboring counties must be loving it. How you can reform from a straight ballot box Democracy would be interesting.

[FangFerang]

Although not very precise, Satit is quite accurate.

The stage claimed that BBC reported 5 million came out in the last march.

This time I have a feeling that it is a little bit more, so 6 million is about right.

Ok, but I looked online and cannot find where the BBC said this. Do you have a link? I am always open to suggestions.

The population of Thailand is 66 million (quite probably nearly 70 because of unregistered indiginous people). So...10% say they want 100% control?

[Pikeybkk]

architects and scientists with Thai university degrees......hmmm 1 + 1 = how much did you pay me?