Shutdown Bangkok protest enters the third day

[Gweiloman]

The power of the masses is truly awesome!

Hey, you are cheating, that's not fair. Your picture must be at least 2 hours old, hahaha

p/s: it seems like you are taking your pics from the same apartment block as I, but from a lower floor?

[Familyonthemove]

What ..... so having street parties after work and wearing a whistle to go shopping in Central World does not bring down governments?

Bugger.

Need a Plan B.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Familyonthemove

[Gweiloman]

Why is Suthep and his backers really so down on Thaksin?

Seems like a nice airport.

Skytrain is pretty cool.

The 30 baht per visit medical program seems to help many in need.

Everyone benefited from the economic recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Reducing poverty from 21.3% to 11.3% is a good thing I think.

Balancing the national budget and producing fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005 would be considered fiscally responsible.

Foreign exchange reserves doubling seems like a success.

Government Lottery for education would have not only reduced illegal gambling, but provided education for those in need.

Privatizing MCOT and increasing freedom of speech seems like a move in the right direction.

Student Loan Fund (SLF) helping low income students get an education with low interest rates was nice.

Supporting Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project was a cool idea.

Wholesale power pool competition in the energy markets lowering these costs would tend to benefit the people.

Introducing Islamic law and making Pattani-Malay (Yawi) an official language in southern region seemed like a start to help reduce conflict there.

Transformation of the government department, ministries, and provincial governors operating style of the traditional bureaucracy into a more results-oriented instrument would have been awesome.

Crackdown on mafia crime was long overdue.

Profit agreements with Cambodia on the huge oil potential in the gulf of Thailand could have made Thailand energy independent.

Maybe Thaksin did too much? Are they jealous of Thaksin's popularity? Did they lose took much corruption money? They weren't getting enough sex?

Those in the black box behind this movement need to look past personal interests and put interests of the whole above yourselves.

Now, just wait for the allegations of huge, widespread corruption with gazillions of zeros for each and every one of your points mentioned above.

[Jim walker]

The end is nigh, the millions are all back home and only the ones paid are left to look like millions of people, just move around a bit more and it will all be fine at the end of the day February 2^nd and the real peoples majority decision will be made, don’t need to hang about the streets in Bangkok just now.

[tullynagardy]

The power of the masses is truly awesome!

Hey, you are cheating, that's not fair. Your picture must be at least 2 hours old, hahaha

p/s: it seems like you are taking your pics from the same apartment block as I, but from a lower floor?

Go on meet up and have a pint lads. At least Suthep will then have done something beneficial to you and helped you make a new friend

[Carrerakiss]

Why is Suthep and his backers really so down on Thaksin?

Seems like a nice airport.

Skytrain is pretty cool.

The 30 baht per visit medical program seems to help many in need.

Everyone benefited from the economic recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Reducing poverty from 21.3% to 11.3% is a good thing I think.

Balancing the national budget and producing fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005 would be considered fiscally responsible.

Foreign exchange reserves doubling seems like a success.

Government Lottery for education would have not only reduced illegal gambling, but provided education for those in need.

Privatizing MCOT and increasing freedom of speech seems like a move in the right direction.

Student Loan Fund (SLF) helping low income students get an education with low interest rates was nice.

Supporting Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project was a cool idea.

Wholesale power pool competition in the energy markets lowering these costs would tend to benefit the people.

Introducing Islamic law and making Pattani-Malay (Yawi) an official language in southern region seemed like a start to help reduce conflict there.

Transformation of the government department, ministries, and provincial governors operating style of the traditional bureaucracy into a more results-oriented instrument would have been awesome.

Crackdown on mafia crime was long overdue.

Profit agreements with Cambodia on the huge oil potential in the gulf of Thailand could have made Thailand energy independent.

Maybe Thaksin did too much? Are they jealous of Thaksin's popularity? Did they lose took much corruption money? They weren't getting enough sex?

Those in the black box behind this movement need to look past personal interests and put interests of the whole above yourselves.

Hahaha, the elephant in the room is revealed. I wonder why he has such loyal supporters?

And Herr Suthep, what have YOU done lately?

[Boxclever]

In Asoke a minute ago. Crowd size will undoubtedly grow as offices close and the weather cools down.

Shame but no matter how one tries to spin it, it's not really a mass uprising of the discontented and disenchanted masses. The man / woman on the street just don't have the stomach or commitment to see it all the way through.

photo (29).jpg

Oh dear!

Where is "the great mass of the people" and what happened to "it will be the largest protest the world has ever seen" and "expect millions" of protestors on the streets of Bkk? There's barely a couple of hundred of mainly old women there!

You TV Suthep supporters that predicted a government over throw must be feeling like right <deleted> now

[rubl]

Are those the millions of sheep following him that I can see in the picture bet a million bucks he goes home to his nice warm bed while all the fools who have followed him are stuck in makeshift tents what a pity it's not the rainy season

The topic is not on Thaksin or the UDD leaders.

[firestar]

The power of the masses is truly awesome!

Luckily there is the main site, Central World, where MILLIONS are packed under the bridge

Edited January 15, 2014 by firestar

[Nowhereman60]

they have live bands playing now to increase the number of protesters to 500 million

[rubl]

I suggest you get your act together.

This shutdown is not about making things look huge, it is about shutting down BKK and it has been 100% successful so far and is increasing.

Many are at work during the day and join the rally in the evenings, and many are getting clean, eating and don't forget the numbers are fragmented across about 20 different areas at once.

Of course there are going to be pictures showing empty spaces, that is what the photo is all about.... emptiness and the effectiveness of the shutdown.

Like it or not, get used to it, these rallies and strategic dispursmnets across simultanious sites will bring the government down. Which is its only objective. We have seen the PDRC support from previous weeks.

It is not the protesters who are obsessed with numbers, it is the red shirted farang with overly simplistic thought processes.

We will be coming there from the northeast at the weekend when we have the time to do it. We are the same as most of the public, we have things to do Monday to Friday. As long as there are enough there to keep the thing going and intensify everything on a daily basis, we are happy.

How typically selfish, from someone calling oneself poisonus (but not poisonous). You are happy for other people's lives to be disrupted as long as yours isn't, from Monday to Friday.

Well, seeing that you are currently far removed from the scene, let me tell you that the mood is changing day by day here in Bangkok. Most of the "protesters" that swell the numbers in the evenings are actually just normal office workers wandering down to the stage with their friends to listen to some live music and just generally taking in the party atmosphere. There is no serious enthusiasm about bringing about a change of government.

I believe I am qualified to air my opinion as I live not more than 100 metres away from the stage in Asoke so I am more "in" than Flynn.

Nice apartment blocks there as well, apart from soi C. Now, I live in khet Dusit, almost no farang, travel by motorcy, BTS/BTR, have Thai family from Bangkok and no not rich. So am I qualified after a bit more than 19 years here?

Lots of office workers join when they have time and join out of principles like 'no corruption' even if that means to sit with Suthep for a while.

Edited January 15, 2014 by rubl

[rubl]

they have live bands playing now to increase the number of protesters to 500 million

Now that surely will make the TAT happy

[Gweiloman]

They are now showing videos of the violence during 2010 on the big LED screes. Are they trying to provoke the same?

[millwall_fan]

Why is Suthep and his backers really so down on Thaksin?

Seems like a nice airport.

Skytrain is pretty cool.

The 30 baht per visit medical program seems to help many in need.

Everyone benefited from the economic recovery from the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

Reducing poverty from 21.3% to 11.3% is a good thing I think.

Balancing the national budget and producing fiscal surpluses for 2003 to 2005 would be considered fiscally responsible.

Foreign exchange reserves doubling seems like a success.

Government Lottery for education would have not only reduced illegal gambling, but provided education for those in need.

Privatizing MCOT and increasing freedom of speech seems like a move in the right direction.

Student Loan Fund (SLF) helping low income students get an education with low interest rates was nice.

Supporting Nicholas Negroponte's One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) project was a cool idea.

Wholesale power pool competition in the energy markets lowering these costs would tend to benefit the people.

Introducing Islamic law and making Pattani-Malay (Yawi) an official language in southern region seemed like a start to help reduce conflict there.

Transformation of the government department, ministries, and provincial governors operating style of the traditional bureaucracy into a more results-oriented instrument would have been awesome.

Crackdown on mafia crime was long overdue.

Profit agreements with Cambodia on the huge oil potential in the gulf of Thailand could have made Thailand energy independent.

Maybe Thaksin did too much? Are they jealous of Thaksin's popularity? Did they lose took much corruption money? They weren't getting enough sex?

Those in the black box behind this movement need to look past personal interests and put interests of the whole above yourselves.

Now, just wait for the allegations of huge, widespread corruption with gazillions of zeros for each and every one of your points mentioned above.

The point is that Thais expect their politicians to cream off millions. and if you think that Mr.Sutheps government weren't taking their cut just 2 1/2 years ago you're deluding yourself. The fact is that many of the things on the list above were achieved - I'm not sure I'd be quite that glowing - the airport and Skytrain were years late and I'm not sure that Thaksin's contribution to the Moslem issues in the South was quite that benign - dozens suffocated to death in the back of a police truck was a tad negative.

There is a definite argument to be made for a commission to try to reduce corruption: The anti-graft commission has been quite successful and needs more teeth but this current situation is NOT about that. This is about the old elite trying to grab the goodies back from the new Thaksin elite. The poor have benefitted from many of the measures on the list above. They are voting PT out of conviction because of the things that have been done for them not because of the 500 Baht they are getting. This country - the 25th largest economy in the world, has some of the worst inequalities of wealth on the planet and Thaksin and his family and friends tried to address it. OK in the process they got uber rich, but the poor aren't bothered about that.

[somchaimaidai]

They are at Thonglor BTS now. With numbers like this anybody who says that numbers are not important is probably also a subscriber to the belief that size doesn't matter when you only have 1".

[spare5]

They are now showing videos of the violence during 2010 on the big LED screes. Are they trying to provoke the same?

Show for an hour every evening is OK.

Keep repearting all day all night is not good for the kids watching.

Edited January 15, 2014 by spare5

[firestar]

The point is that Thais expect their politicians to cream off millions. and if you think that Mr.Sutheps government weren't taking their cut just 2 1/2 years ago you're deluding yourself. The fact is that many of the things on the list above were achieved - I'm not sure I'd be quite that glowing - the airport and Skytrain were years late and I'm not sure that Thaksin's contribution to the Moslem issues in the South was quite that benign - dozens suffocated to death in the back of a police truck was a tad negative.

There is a definite argument to be made for a commission to try to reduce corruption: The anti-graft commission has been quite successful and needs more teeth but this current situation is NOT about that. This is about the old elite trying to grab the goodies back from the new Thaksin elite. The poor have benefitted from many of the measures on the list above. They are voting PT out of conviction because of the things that have been done for them not because of the 500 Baht they are getting. This country - the 25th largest economy in the world, has some of the worst inequalities of wealth on the planet and Thaksin and his family and friends tried to address it. OK in the process they got uber rich, but the poor aren't bothered about that.

One just needs to google "Suthep Palm Oil" to understand his anti-corruption persona has zero credibility. And if anyone remembers the first yellow shirt protest, and the Nations articles, it centered mostly over corruption allegation in the making of Suvarnabhumi. Strangely when the news came out that the military might have slightly overcharged for the land and King Power (a well known yellow supporter) had fiddled with the size of its stores it all very went quiet.

Edited January 15, 2014 by firestar

[tullynagardy]

The point is that Thais expect their politicians to cream off millions. and if you think that Mr.Sutheps government weren't taking their cut just 2 1/2 years ago you're deluding yourself. The fact is that many of the things on the list above were achieved - I'm not sure I'd be quite that glowing - the airport and Skytrain were years late and I'm not sure that Thaksin's contribution to the Moslem issues in the South was quite that benign - dozens suffocated to death in the back of a police truck was a tad negative.

There is a definite argument to be made for a commission to try to reduce corruption: The anti-graft commission has been quite successful and needs more teeth but this current situation is NOT about that. This is about the old elite trying to grab the goodies back from the new Thaksin elite. The poor have benefitted from many of the measures on the list above. They are voting PT out of conviction because of the things that have been done for them not because of the 500 Baht they are getting. This country - the 25th largest economy in the world, has some of the worst inequalities of wealth on the planet and Thaksin and his family and friends tried to address it. OK in the process they got uber rich, but the poor aren't bothered about that.

One just needs to google "Suthep Palm Oil" to understand his anti-corruption persona has zero credibility. And if anyone remembers the first yellow shirt protest, and the Nations articles, it centered mostly over corruption allegation in the making of Suvarnabhumi. Strangely when the news came out that the military might have slightly overcharged for the land and King Power (a well known yellow supporter) had fiddled with the size of its stores it all very went quiet.

Yep Suthep` s family control the palm oil industry in the South and was chairman of the National Palm Oil Policy Committee when deputy PM! He engineered a situation to make himself a multi millionaire. Not dis similar to some of Thaskins action regarding Sim cards and early mobile phone technology.

I have sympathy with farrangs on here talking of the corruption of Thaskin, but to then sing the praises of a guy who did the same thing (only not as successful) is ridiculous in the extreme and shows gross ignorance.

[Ulic]

One thing is for sure the Silver-Back has a lot of energy.

[StealthEnergiser]

I have been to all these protest sites the last few weeks and any person who thinks that numbers are dropping off are just incorrect.

I just came back through asok and the crowd there is huge I would say bigger than Monday.

Suthep and his merry men will see victory soon.

[Boxclever]

The point is that Thais expect their politicians to cream off millions. and if you think that Mr.Sutheps government weren't taking their cut just 2 1/2 years ago you're deluding yourself. The fact is that many of the things on the list above were achieved - I'm not sure I'd be quite that glowing - the airport and Skytrain were years late and I'm not sure that Thaksin's contribution to the Moslem issues in the South was quite that benign - dozens suffocated to death in the back of a police truck was a tad negative.

There is a definite argument to be made for a commission to try to reduce corruption: The anti-graft commission has been quite successful and needs more teeth but this current situation is NOT about that. This is about the old elite trying to grab the goodies back from the new Thaksin elite. The poor have benefitted from many of the measures on the list above. They are voting PT out of conviction because of the things that have been done for them not because of the 500 Baht they are getting. This country - the 25th largest economy in the world, has some of the worst inequalities of wealth on the planet and Thaksin and his family and friends tried to address it. OK in the process they got uber rich, but the poor aren't bothered about that.

One just needs to google "Suthep Palm Oil" to understand his anti-corruption persona has zero credibility. And if anyone remembers the first yellow shirt protest, and the Nations articles, it centered mostly over corruption allegation in the making of Suvarnabhumi. Strangely when the news came out that the military might have slightly overcharged for the land and King Power (a well known yellow supporter) had fiddled with the size of its stores it all very went quiet.

Yep Suthep` s family control the palm oil industry in the South and was chairman of the National Palm Oil Policy Committee when deputy PM! He engineered a situation to make himself a multi millionaire. Not dis similar to some of Thaskins action regarding Sim cards and early mobile phone technology.

I have sympathy with farrangs on here talking of the corruption of Thaskin, but to then sing the praises of a guy who did the same thing (only not as successful) is ridiculous in the extreme and shows gross ignorance.

Anyone else noticed how the TV anti democracy mob has suddenly gone quiet?

[Gweiloman]

I have been to all these protest sites the last few weeks and any person who thinks that numbers are dropping off are just incorrect. I just came back through asok and the crowd there is huge I would say bigger than Monday. Suthep and his merry men will see victory soon.

Last few weeks? But the current protest only started on Monday? Which universe are you living in? Come to think of it, which Asoke are you talking about? I live in Asoke, less than 100 metres away from the main stage and I am very, very clued in as to the numbers here on a minute by minute basis. As I am typing now, Suthep is speaking on stage.

[StealthEnergiser]

I have been to all these protest sites the last few weeks and any person who thinks that numbers are dropping off are just incorrect. I just came back through asok and the crowd there is huge I would say bigger than Monday. Suthep and his merry men will see victory soon.

Last few weeks? But the current protest only started on Monday? Which universe are you living in? Come to think of it, which Asoke are you talking about? I live in Asoke, less than 100 metres away from the main stage and I am very, very clued in as to the numbers here on a minute by minute basis. As I am typing now, Suthep is speaking on stage.

so are you denying that that the crowd is less than Monday ? I also live very close .

Also the protest has been going much longer than 3 days unless you have been sleeping.

[tullynagardy]

I have been to all these protest sites the last few weeks and any person who thinks that numbers are dropping off are just incorrect. I just came back through asok and the crowd there is huge I would say bigger than Monday. Suthep and his merry men will see victory soon.

Huge mate! 350 million Id guess

[Gweiloman]

Taken at 16:14

Taken at 17:38

Definitely down from Monday

Edited January 15, 2014 by Gweiloman

[Boxclever]

I have been to all these protest sites the last few weeks and any person who thinks that numbers are dropping off are just incorrect. I just came back through asok and the crowd there is huge I would say bigger than Monday. Suthep and his merry men will see victory soon.

Huge mate! 350 million Id guess

Tully, you're missing the point.

In case you missed it, Suthep has anounced that his supporter's vote is worth 1,000,000 to every 1 poor person's vote.

The same principle applies to the protester tally. So, 350 = 350,000,000

I hope this clears your confusion

Edited January 15, 2014 by Boxclever

[tullynagardy]

Taken at 16:14

Good point Gweiloman, numbers have since risen further and Blue Sky television estimates them now at 500 million

[Gweiloman]

Taken less than a minute ago.

You will notice a distinct thinning of the crowd within a 100 metres from the stage.

[Boxclever]

Taken less than a minute ago.

photo (34).jpg

You will notice a distinct thinning of the crowd within a 100 metres from the stage.

Truly awesome...must be at least 500 million now!

[pipkins]

Here are classic examples of what we have been talking about all day. The crowds have gone.... and the media are doing there bit by cropping the pics to make them look full.

Where are the drone shots? Why is twitter awash with photo of empty streets and deserted stage areas? why are ALL media reports from creditable media talking of "HUNDEREDS" of protesters in some of their pics? Where are the millions?

Getting dirty now is this war and the media who have sucked up to Suthep are going to come out with egg on their faces.

Stop supporting this madman and go for some real reform. Reform that would see these crazies behind bars as well.

'empty streets'? well cars cannot go through. 'deserted stages'? provide links

Hundreds of protesters? more likely thousands and times staging areas.

All this input from you seems to suggest that the anti-anti-government group is getting really desperate. Now suggestions, half-truths and insinuations. Next white lies, real lies and personal attacks.

At least I don't hear any shooting, that's nice.

You should get out of TV and Bluesky more often. thousands of pics on Twitter. Firm evidence to all but those who don't want to see it. The march today wasn't much more than 50m long. At most 2,000 people. So maybe best ou don't look.!!!

Looking out of the window I don't see much traffic on RamaIII. This morning also a new record in getting here. 'shutdown bangkok' seems to work.

You mean work< as in it achieved its objective and got rid of the government? Another deadline passed yesterday. Sutheps final final final final final battle was predicted to end on 14th... his astrologer said....

All that is happening now is they are alienating themselves even more. Once the citizens of BKK see this mob is reduced in size enough, they will run them out of town. Almost happened at Cheang Wattana yesterday. The residents had them outnumbered and were giving them grief, so they closed down part of it.

Bangkok has adapted. Cities and towns can adapt and adjust to protests like this. There is a whole country full of cities and municiple buildings for them to operate out of if req..... but it's not required. Sweet dreams of you all dancing to Sutheps tune if he gets in.