Thai protesters lay siege to provincial offices

[webfact]

Thai protesters lay siege to provincial offices

BANGKOK, January 20, 2014 (AFP) - Anti-government protesters in Thailand besieged government offices in a dozen southern provinces on Monday as part of their campaign to force Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from power, officials said.

The move follows weeks of mass rallies in the Bangkok that have sparked several bouts of violence, including grenade attacks and shootings that both sides have blamed on each other.

The government reiterated Monday that it was ready to declare a state of emergency if needed to control the situation.

Demonstrators blocked the entrances to state offices in 12 provinces in the opposition-dominated south to stop civil servants going to work, officials said.

"Protesters locked the gates and asked officials to leave," said Anucha Romayanan, a spokesman for the Centre for Administration of Peace and Order, set up by the government to oversee the handling of the protests.

Protesters also surrounded a government savings bank in Bangkok.

Yingluck is under intense pressure from demonstrators, backed by the royalist establishment, to step down after more than two months of street rallies aimed at ousting her government from office and installing an unelected "people's council".

She has called an election for February but the main opposition party is boycotting the vote. The protesters are seeking to disrupt the polls and have prevented candidates from registering in some southern constituencies.

The demonstrators have staged a self-styled "shutdown" of Bangkok since January 13, erecting roadblocks and rally stages at several key intersections in the city, although the number of protesters has steadily fallen since the middle of last week.

Dozens of people were wounded and one killed in grenade attacks by unknown assailants on opposition rallies on Friday and Sunday that heightened fears of growing unrest ahead of next month's election.

Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said on Monday that the government might declare a state of emergency to give a bigger role to the army to help deal with the unrest.

"We cannot allow more violence to happen," he said.

The kingdom has been periodically rocked by political bloodshed since former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's older brother, was overthrown by royalist generals in a coup seven years ago.

The latest protests were triggered by a failed amnesty bill that could have allowed Thaksin to return without going to jail for a past corruption conviction.

The demonstrators accuse the billionaire telecoms tycoon-turned-politician of controlling his sister's government from his base in Dubai.

Thaksin has strong electoral support in northern Thailand, but he is reviled by many southerners, Bangkok's middle class and members of the royalist establishment.


-- (c) Copyright AFP 2014-01-20

[pipkins]

So keen were the workers to Back Suthep that it took them 82 days to come out in support.

Even if you going to say they were not pressured.. why not support him before?

Waiting to hear how much support for this day of thuggery which is plasterd all over every social media forum in the world

[Nowhereman60]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

[moonao]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

Exactly.

Just when you thought the protesters couldn't get any stupider, the come along and do something like this.

[phutoie2]

True maybe keep the holiday islands, but hand the rest to Malaysia.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 2 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[soi41]

Creating inconvenience for the people, who actually voted for the Dems?? Am I the only only one, who don't see the revolutionary masterplan??

Almost as genius as the plan to close down Krabi Airport!!

I know, Thais are not very good at geography, but dear Suthep your "enemy" is north of Bangkok!!

Try to pull your stunts in Khon Kaen, Surin or Buriram!!

[Scamper]

As the administration tries to arrange their dominos in order to press what they've always wanted - the backing of the military - this latest attempt - to frame what has been clear and coordinated attacks on the protesters in a terror grenade campaign - as occurring within the movement itself, is a preposterous and Syrian regime-inspired argument and stance of Thaksin's cousin, that shows just how far the administration is prepared to go in their effort to use every lever of power at their disposal to not only subvert justice but to deflect from it, as well as to stamp out the voices of the Thai people in their right to peaceful protest.

[Nowhereman60]

As the administration tries to arrange their dominos in order to press what they've always wanted - the backing of the military - this latest attempt - to frame what has been clear and coordinated attacks on the protesters in a terror grenade campaign - as occurring within the movement itself, is a preposterous and Syrian regime-inspired argument and stance of Thaksin's cousin, that shows just how far the administration is prepared to go in their effort to use every lever of power at their disposal to not only subvert justice but to deflect from it, as well as to stamp out the voices of the Thai people in their right to peaceful protest.

Peaceful protest?? I guess you have not kept up with the news in the last few weeks.

[Fat Haggis]

Blind Monkeys...or does he speak the truth??

Michael Yon

The Blind Monkey: Thailand Protest Numbers

(A stream of unedited thoughts.)

There are reports of dwindling numbers at the protests. I have noticed over the past 48-72 hrs the numbers are generally far down but it would be folly to extrapolate from this that the movement is dwindling.

I sense the opposite, that though the numbers have dwindled over the past 2-3 days, the movement is growing. Importantly, to say that the numbers are dwindling does not mean that the numbers are not still high, and the government is still crippled. For instance, I know one protestor who is a university professor, and though she goes to the protests seven days per week, she is teaching today. School is in.

Most of the protestors seem to have jobs. Today is Monday.

I also saw firsthand for years this same sort of extrapolation happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether attacks/casualties were down or up one month meant little on the larger pattern.

In 2006, I wrote 12 major pieces saying the Afghanistan war was going badly and we were in danger of losing it. (Now it is lost.) People said I was crazy in 2006, and that the Afghanistan war was already won, and they would point to attack statistics, etc. The numbers fooled them, or they had agendas and used the numbers.

Conversely, in 2007 in Iraq – this was our worst year there -- during a month with nearly peak casualties, I published from the middle of the war that we were starting to win. People were dying all around me and I was saying the tide had turned and we appeared to be winning.

Again, people again said I was crazy. How can you say we are winning when more people are dying more than ever before? I said it, wrote it, and almost immediately the casualties started to go down and we won the Iraq war, and then we abandoned it, and lost it all again.

But in 2007, while I continued to say we were losing Afghanistan (I was jumping back and forth between the wars), huge numbers of people were saying I had it backwards, that Iraq was surely lost and Afghanistan surely won, and they pointed to statistics, while I pointed to the people and said stop watching the stock ticker, and pay attention to the people. The answer is in the people, not the calculator.

We saw this constantly in Iraq and Afghanistan. As numbers fluctuated, pundits pointed to charts. The pundits were no more accurate than the blindfolded monkey tossing a dart. I made my "name" in Iraq and Afghanistan for being right more than the rest. I was not any smarter than they are, but I was there more than most, and I travelled widely around both countries, as I have done for years in Thailand.

To get a feel, you MUST be on the ground with the people.

Saying the numbers are down and so the movement is dwindling is blind-monkey business. It's like watching a large wave crash, and then the water pulls back to the sea, and the Blind Monkey says, "Look! The water is draining from the sea!"

And then the next wave crashes on his head, and he says, "Oh, an anomaly. But look, it's going out again."

And then he cannot explain the waves because they keep coming, but then the tide starts to go out, and he says, "See, the waves are getting smaller, and the entire sea is going away," and later that night, the tide comes in and he cannot explain it, because the monkey has not watched the sea long enough to understand it's cycles, and so he constantly is making pronouncements as if he is an expert, and since the Monkey wears a tie and works for a big newspaper, people believe him. But he still is a Monkey from the jungle, and no expert on the sea.

[TVGerry]

As the administration tries to arrange their dominos in order to press what they've always wanted - the backing of the military - this latest attempt - to frame what has been clear and coordinated attacks on the protesters in a terror grenade campaign - as occurring within the movement itself, is a preposterous and Syrian regime-inspired argument and stance of Thaksin's cousin, that shows just how far the administration is prepared to go in their effort to use every lever of power at their disposal to not only subvert justice but to deflect from it, as well as to stamp out the voices of the Thai people in their right to peaceful protest.

Peaceful protest?? I guess you have not kept up with the news in the last few weeks.

It has been relatively peaceful with the exception of a few unfortunate incidence of violence. Considering this protest has been going on for more then a month, that's pretty good. Unfortunately, the protestors now have grenades being tossed at them and shots being fired at them every night.

[Thailand]

As the administration tries to arrange their dominos in order to press what they've always wanted - the backing of the military - this latest attempt - to frame what has been clear and coordinated attacks on the protesters in a terror grenade campaign - as occurring within the movement itself, is a preposterous and Syrian regime-inspired argument and stance of Thaksin's cousin, that shows just how far the administration is prepared to go in their effort to use every lever of power at their disposal to not only subvert justice but to deflect from it, as well as to stamp out the voices of the Thai people in their right to peaceful protest.

[Spartakos]

Those pesky southeners, elites, bangkok middle class, students, business owners, scholars, work unions, yellow shirts, rubber farmers, celebs, who do they think they are to believe that they can protest against this honest goverment chosen by the rice farmers that have not been paid lately. Can you belive the nerve of those people?

[pipkins]

Those pesky southeners, elites, bangkok middle class, students, business owners, scholars, work unions, yellow shirts, rubber farmers, celebs, who do they think they are to believe that they can protest against this honest goverment chosen by the rice farmers that have not been paid lately. Can you belive the nerve of those people?

It's not all of them, just the few who have no independent thought.

They are dwindling and losing money fast. Enough people are getting annoyed... now they are losing money and there will be repercussions.

The more money people lose the angrier they will become.

Protest yes, but this is stupidity writ large and it's getting worse because it is not working. Looks like the Army, Police, the majority of the country and the Gov. are waiting it out. Blink Suthep.... and you are gone, because one day, your rash hatred and foul manner will let you down.. The longer it goes on, the more people despise you...

That day will come

[Crushdepth]

As the administration tries to arrange their dominos in order to press what they've always wanted - the backing of the military - this latest attempt - to frame what has been clear and coordinated attacks on the protesters in a terror grenade campaign - as occurring within the movement itself, is a preposterous and Syrian regime-inspired argument and stance of Thaksin's cousin, that shows just how far the administration is prepared to go in their effort to use every lever of power at their disposal to not only subvert justice but to deflect from it, as well as to stamp out the voices of the Thai people in their right to peaceful protest.

Peaceful protest?? I guess you have not kept up with the news in the last few weeks.

Get a grip. The last lot were launching grenades and using automatic weapons, and let's not forget the arson rampage. This mob is much better behaved.

[Spartakos]

Those pesky southeners, elites, bangkok middle class, students, business owners, scholars, work unions, yellow shirts, rubber farmers, celebs, who do they think they are to believe that they can protest against this honest goverment chosen by the rice farmers that have not been paid lately. Can you belive the nerve of those people?

It's not all of them, just the few who have no independent thought.

They are dwindling and losing money fast. Enough people are getting annoyed... now they are losing money and there will be repercussions.

The more money people lose the angrier they will become.

Protest yes, but this is stupidity writ large and it's getting worse because it is not working. Looks like the Army, Police, the majority of the country and the Gov. are waiting it out. Blink Suthep.... and you are gone, because one day, your rash hatred and foul manner will let you down.. The longer it goes on, the more people despise you...

That day will come

Funny how I thought you were talking about the rice farmers loosing money fast and running out of patience with this goverment.

But yes, Suthep- bad, Abhisit- bad bad, those nasty protesters who ain't got no independent thought, how dare they?!

Don't they know how all this protesting activities and all those tricky investigations make our beloved leader from afar feel?

[Fat Haggis]

How do you eat an elephant?? ...

Bit by bit

[metisdead]

An inflammatory insulting post has been removed.

[Boxclever]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

Exactly.

Just when you thought the protesters couldn't get any stupider, the come along and do something like this.

Cutting off their nose to spite their face.

Smart people in the South

[ginjag]

Creating inconvenience for the people, who actually voted for the Dems?? Am I the only only one, who don't see the revolutionary masterplan??

Almost as genius as the plan to close down Krabi Airport!!

I know, Thais are not very good at geography, but dear Suthep your "enemy" is north of Bangkok!!

Try to pull your stunts in Khon Kaen, Surin or Buriram!!

Buriram is not a PTP stronghold.

[icommunity]

Again, is this an activity according to democratic system? IMO, let them shut down their southern provinces and let the people there suffer so that they will seek another political party to represent them.

[FangFerang]

I have a feeling that if every wish made by Suthep came true tomorrow, this would not be over. If the wishes made by the Shinawatras came true, every one of them, this would not be over.

Everyone, myself included, gets mesmerized by the events. This protest is a symptom. Neither side wants wants to address that. Neither one. If they did there might be real reform, but I for one am not waiting for that pig to fly.

Let the situation play out, then let things settle down, and then initiate cosmetic reforms. That is the actual "reform" both sides are offering.

This has been going on for a month and neither side has put forth a concrete agenda for reforms of any kind. Why? It is a question worth asking...repeatedly, of others... and ourselves.

[3NUMBAS]

do i smell the fear of intimidation that called them out and leave their posts ? wonder if they get paid for taking unofficial leave ?

changes before the election is not a serious and viable option ,who knows where it would end

[icommunity]

Blind Monkeys...or does he speak the truth??

Michael Yon

The Blind Monkey: Thailand Protest Numbers

(A stream of unedited thoughts.)

There are reports of dwindling numbers at the protests. I have noticed over the past 48-72 hrs the numbers are generally far down but it would be folly to extrapolate from this that the movement is dwindling.

I sense the opposite, that though the numbers have dwindled over the past 2-3 days, the movement is growing. Importantly, to say that the numbers are dwindling does not mean that the numbers are not still high, and the government is still crippled. For instance, I know one protestor who is a university professor, and though she goes to the protests seven days per week, she is teaching today. School is in.

Most of the protestors seem to have jobs. Today is Monday.

I also saw firsthand for years this same sort of extrapolation happened in Iraq and Afghanistan. Whether attacks/casualties were down or up one month meant little on the larger pattern.

In 2006, I wrote 12 major pieces saying the Afghanistan war was going badly and we were in danger of losing it. (Now it is lost.) People said I was crazy in 2006, and that the Afghanistan war was already won, and they would point to attack statistics, etc. The numbers fooled them, or they had agendas and used the numbers.

Conversely, in 2007 in Iraq – this was our worst year there -- during a month with nearly peak casualties, I published from the middle of the war that we were starting to win. People were dying all around me and I was saying the tide had turned and we appeared to be winning.

Again, people again said I was crazy. How can you say we are winning when more people are dying more than ever before? I said it, wrote it, and almost immediately the casualties started to go down and we won the Iraq war, and then we abandoned it, and lost it all again.

But in 2007, while I continued to say we were losing Afghanistan (I was jumping back and forth between the wars), huge numbers of people were saying I had it backwards, that Iraq was surely lost and Afghanistan surely won, and they pointed to statistics, while I pointed to the people and said stop watching the stock ticker, and pay attention to the people. The answer is in the people, not the calculator.

We saw this constantly in Iraq and Afghanistan. As numbers fluctuated, pundits pointed to charts. The pundits were no more accurate than the blindfolded monkey tossing a dart. I made my "name" in Iraq and Afghanistan for being right more than the rest. I was not any smarter than they are, but I was there more than most, and I travelled widely around both countries, as I have done for years in Thailand.

To get a feel, you MUST be on the ground with the people.

Saying the numbers are down and so the movement is dwindling is blind-monkey business. It's like watching a large wave crash, and then the water pulls back to the sea, and the Blind Monkey says, "Look! The water is draining from the sea!"

And then the next wave crashes on his head, and he says, "Oh, an anomaly. But look, it's going out again."

And then he cannot explain the waves because they keep coming, but then the tide starts to go out, and he says, "See, the waves are getting smaller, and the entire sea is going away," and later that night, the tide comes in and he cannot explain it, because the monkey has not watched the sea long enough to understand it's cycles, and so he constantly is making pronouncements as if he is an expert, and since the Monkey wears a tie and works for a big newspaper, people believe him. But he still is a Monkey from the jungle, and no expert on the sea.

Where to obtain your reports and articles? I would love to read them.

[Fat Haggis]

Click on the Author, Michael Yon.

I admire some of his articles, but he's very much the protestors spin doctor and PR officer they believe everything he writes is factual, when it's nothing more than his hatred for the US of A he, in my own opinion is inciting the crowd, is very controversial in some of the things he says, and will keep stirrng the shyt till someone punches him in the fat face!!"
He's a very controversial writer, he doesn't refer to himself as a journalist, he believes that he's more of an authoritarian on all things Thai.

[Tokay]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

Exactly.

Just when you thought the protesters couldn't get any stupider, the come along and do something like this.

These people go out of their way to outdo themselves.

[WAERTH]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

Exactly.

Just when you thought the protesters couldn't get any stupider, the come along and do something like this.

And the farangs on this board are so stupid. They do not speak Thai and obviously do not know shit about whom is doing the work in the south. A big part of the Thai economy is thriving on ...... tourism. Where is that tourism ..... right you guessed it, for a large part in the south. Guess where you can find big Isaan colonies .....

Not to mention rubber.

Before you comment, go to the places you comment about and know whom is living there and contributing to the national economy. I have been to over 50 provinces. How many have you been to?

[Nowhereman60]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

Exactly.

Just when you thought the protesters couldn't get any stupider, the come along and do something like this.

And the farangs on this board are so stupid. They do not speak Thai and obviously do not know shit about whom is doing the work in the south. A big part of the Thai economy is thriving on ...... tourism. Where is that tourism ..... right you guessed it, for a large part in the south. Guess where you can find big Isaan colonies .....

Not to mention rubber.

Before you comment, go to the places you comment about and know whom is living there and contributing to the national economy. I have been to over 50 provinces. How many have you been to?

75 provinces, so eat my shorts.

[cornishcarlos]

So who really cares what they do in the south. No effect on anyone else except their own people.

Exactly.

Just when you thought the protesters couldn't get any stupider, the come along and do something like this.

And the farangs on this board are so stupid. They do not speak Thai and obviously do not know shit about whom is doing the work in the south. A big part of the Thai economy is thriving on ...... tourism. Where is that tourism ..... right you guessed it, for a large part in the south. Guess where you can find big Isaan colonies .....

Not to mention rubber.

Before you comment, go to the places you comment about and know whom is living there and contributing to the national economy. I have been to over 50 provinces. How many have you been to?

Can you name all 50 please ??

Edited January 20, 2014 by cornishcarlos

[webfact]

UPDATE:

SHUTDOWN
Many state offices shut down by protests in the South
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Protesters continue to lay siege to provincial halls, plus district offices and health offices in provinces throughout the South.

They have called for state officials to stop work after People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) chief Suthep Thaugsuban ordered that the anti-government campaign be stepped up.

Nakhon Si Thammarat: No officials were at work at the provincial hall after the PDRC rallied and called for state workers to cease working.

Officials at every state agency threw their support behind the campaign by closing operations. Of 23 district offices, 15 shut down by noon and the rest were due to close afternoon yesterday.

Krabi: Protesters put up a sign with a message "Reform first then go to the polls", at the entrance of the Krabi Provincial Hall. They called on officials to demonstrate civil disobedience by not working, although no official turned up for work yesterday at the hall.

Protesters set up tents and loud speakers in front of the official hall as more people joined the protest. More than 60 security guards set up metal barricades to prevent the protesters getting in. Offices for health and transport closed down operations in many districts.

Pattani: Military officials were deployed to fend off anti-government protests at the provincial hall. Officials turned up for work as normal.

Satun: People who came to the provincial hall for services relented after PDRC protesters blew whistles and told them and local officials to leave.

Ranong: Protesters rallied in five districts of the province and put up stickers that said "Closed till Yingluck resigns" at the front of state offices, except hospitals, schools, courts, and the police station.

Surat Thani: A war of words and a scuffle erupted at the provincial hall after Saravudh Issarangura na Ayuthaya, a legal officer at the Customs Office, opposed the protest and calls for officials to stop work - and spat on the protesters.

Protesters managed to close many offices in the South. All schools under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry have suspended classes for the first three days of this week.

Phang Nga: Protesters continued to lay siege to the provincial hall, which has been closed since January 13. They have also rallied through the streets, calling for reform before an election and for Yingluck to resign.

Chumphon: Protesters laid siege to all eight districts and blocked officials from going inside their offices. The water and electricity offices, all schools in every district also suspended classes till the government quits.

Trang: Provincial officials have followed Suthep's "order" and closed all state offices. Some turned up at work but only put away documents.

But one protest leader, Preedipramot Lertwarapat, denied the PDRC was closing schools. He said some schools were closed because they were ordered to do that by the school management.

Ubon Ratchathani: Major Sawat Kukaew led 100 protesters from 20 northern provinces to campaign for support of the February 2 election. He said he would lead protesters to rally in Yasothon today and Amnat Charoen tomorrow.


-- The Nation 2014-01-21

[Nowhereman60]

Good, because no one north of Hua Hin gives a damn what happens in the south.