Thousands of police and troops for redshirt rally

[Mentors]

What a farce, for months Suthep and his thugs have terrorized bangkok, and the people and no police and no army.

Now that the reds are having a rally they muster army and police.

What a joke, ok for Suthep the thief, but not the other side that represent the poor.

of course, are you really surprised?

[DrTuner]

The photo might be one of the first we see in a series of the documentary "How to train militia in Thailand". I suppose the upcoming militia bases will be in Chiang Mai, Udon Thani and Khon Kaen. Army doesn't seem to be doing anything except giving press releases.

[dukeandduke]

What a farce, for months Suthep and his thugs have terrorized bangkok, and the people and no police and no army.

Now that the reds are having a rally they muster army and police.

What a joke, ok for Suthep the thief, but not the other side that represent the poor.

clueless...of course no police shooting anti government protesters they need a clean getaway where have you been..pipkins is this you ..look up 2010 and see what the red shirts did then you might have a clue as to why the security is needed stop trolling.

Anyone who thinks Thaksin and his gang are in this to represent the interests of the poor is indeed clueless.

OK, I give up. Who IS in this to represent the interests of the poor?

[bkkjames]

So from 500.000 paid red shirts 3 days ago down to 200.000 yesterday and now 700.000! The guy who do their counting probably need a calculator to add 10 + 10.

maybe following Suthep's lying lead? 6m???

Any photos of this 500,000 from the site today in the news?

Sent from my LG-P970 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[dutchisaan]

What a farce, for months Suthep and his thugs have terrorized bangkok, and the people and no police and no army.

Now that the reds are having a rally they muster army and police.

What a joke, ok for Suthep the thief, but not the other side that represent the poor.

The other side as you call them, don't represent the poor they only steel from the poor.

Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[ratcatcher]

What a farce, for months Suthep and his thugs have terrorized bangkok, and the people and no police and no army.

Now that the reds are having a rally they muster army and police.

What a joke, ok for Suthep the thief, but not the other side that represent the poor.

Some images here to disprove your delusional posting.

.

Suthep stealing from the poor Bangkok people. Suthep terrorizing the citizens of Bangkok.

No need for the police or army as the protests were mostly peaceful. Notice that the Thai people in the picture are giving suthep money as opposed to Suthep paying them to be there.

Police and military needed today as there is potential for outbreaks of violence due to hotheads on both sides.

[marcusd]

.....500,000 x 1000 = 500,000,000 baht....???

According to my Thai wife's translation, they are paying TWO thousand per person, not ONE. And it's an Issan dialect.

We are all pleading for farmers to be paid for democracy for a better life.

When you see things like this it makes me wonder why we bother to care at all.

Sell your soul to the devil and of course you will get burned.

These people I am afraid will never change and in many cases reap what they sow. If that means BANKRUPTCY for the country, well they VOTED it in.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Scott

[Jonmarleesco]

"This is because they do not come to overthrow the government. The people who carry weapons are those who want to bring down the government."

Or shoot police sergeants, perhaps.

[smutcakes]

.....500,000 x 1000 = 500,000,000 baht....???

According to my Thai wife's translation, they are paying TWO thousand per person, not ONE. And it's an Issan dialect.

We are all pleading for farmers to be paid for democracy for a better life.

When you see things like this it makes me wonder why we bother to care at all.

Sell your soul to the devil and of course you will get burned.

These people I am afraid will never change and in many cases reap what they sow. If that means BANKRUPTCY for the country, well they VOTED it in.

Get 2K and get shafted, or getting nothing and get shafted, i know which one i would prefer.

[WoopyDoo]

According to my Thai wife's translation, they are paying TWO thousand per person, not ONE. And it's an Issan dialect.

We are all pleading for farmers to be paid for democracy for a better life.

When you see things like this it makes me wonder why we bother to care at all.

Sell your soul to the devil and of course you will get burned.

These people I am afraid will never change and in many cases reap what they sow. If that means BANKRUPTCY for the country, well they VOTED it in.

Get 2K and get shafted, or getting nothing and get shafted, i know which one i would prefer.

You really are a class act aint ya?

You try to tell me to stop posting because you can't seem to stand to see your red heroes criticized at all do you?

If this all kicks off in style, and I am out of this country observing from afar in some paradise.

If the reds turn on the farang.... I will be laughing at you. Especially if you find yourself stranded and being hunted down by the very mob you supported.

Civil wars always end up in lawlessness...... farangs and their possessions will be a nice target for the UDD communist red scum.

Read the history of any civil war, at some point all foreigners are going to be forced into a mass exodus.

[robblok]

.....500,000 x 1000 = 500,000,000 baht....???

According to my Thai wife's translation, they are paying TWO thousand per person, not ONE. And it's an Issan dialect.

We are all pleading for farmers to be paid for democracy for a better life.

When you see things like this it makes me wonder why we bother to care at all.

Sell your soul to the devil and of course you will get burned.

These people I am afraid will never change and in many cases reap what they sow. If that means BANKRUPTCY for the country, well they VOTED it in.

Get 2K and get shafted, or getting nothing and get shafted, i know which one i would prefer.

Me too.. but it shows that red are just paid for protesters while Suthep on the other hand does not pay them and gets paid for the expenses. 2 totally different crowds, one rent a thug's protests, who go for the money. The other people who believe in outing Taksin and pay to help cover the expenses.

Kinda says it all

[scorecard]

Anybody seen any very recent photos or detailed reports of the red gathering today?

Edited April 5, 2014 by Scott

[Dogmatix]

.....500,000 x 1000 = 500,000,000 baht....???

Is that an old clip or new again ?

Crazy actually then need to be paid to protest while on the other hand people are paying Suthep for the protests. Then you really know who is on the site of right and where the heart is. Just paid protesters and paid votes.. PTP style.

This is pretty good money for Isaan people who mortgaged their entire annual production of jasmine rice to the government leaving nothing to eat because they could get a better price for jasmine rice, which they don't eat themselves, and hoped to use the money to buy the sticky rice they actually eat. Now they have no money to plant the next crop, they have nothing to do and may as well take this well paid work for as long as lasts.

[smutcakes]

Get 2K and get shafted, or getting nothing and get shafted, i know which one i would prefer.

Me too.. but it shows that red are just paid for protesters while Suthep on the other hand does not pay them and gets paid for the expenses. 2 totally different crowds, one rent a thug's protests, who go for the money. The other people who believe in outing Taksin and pay to help cover the expenses.

Kinda says it all

If you really believe that they are not handing out money at the PDRC rallies then you are incredibly naive or just willfully blind to some things.

I am not saying that all of them are being paid, much like the red rallies, but undoubtedly they have been handing out money at these protests particularly in the early days when the numbers were higher.

I am not really surprised that more of the PDRC are probably there off their own steam, considering that they predominantly are either in Bangkok already or from the South of the country, not from a largely much poorer part of society and having to get on a 15 hours coach journey etc.

[WoopyDoo]

Anybody seen any very recent photos or detailed reports of the red gathering today?

I am actually surprised that there has been nothing in any of the media.

I have a feeling the media are being kept away from this event. Maybe they don't want anything reported about low turnout despite the money offered.

Either that or the reporters are too frightened to go near the place for fear they are intimidated and threatened with having their mum's houses bombed.

There is the other reason that reporters tend to die while covering the reds.

Maybe though it is the first theory.... The army and police are keeping them from reporting the sheer lack of support for the UDD.

[smutcakes]

According to my Thai wife's translation, they are paying TWO thousand per person, not ONE. And it's an Issan dialect.

We are all pleading for farmers to be paid for democracy for a better life.

When you see things like this it makes me wonder why we bother to care at all.

Sell your soul to the devil and of course you will get burned.

These people I am afraid will never change and in many cases reap what they sow. If that means BANKRUPTCY for the country, well they VOTED it in.

Get 2K and get shafted, or getting nothing and get shafted, i know which one i would prefer.

You really are a class act aint ya?

You try to tell me to stop posting because you can't seem to stand to see your red heroes criticized at all do you?

If this all kicks off in style, and I am out of this country observing from afar in some paradise.

If the reds turn on the farang.... I will be laughing at you. Especially if you find yourself stranded and being hunted down by the very mob you supported.

Civil wars always end up in lawlessness...... farangs and their possessions will be a nice target for the UDD communist red scum.

Read the history of any civil war, at some point all foreigners are going to be forced into a mass exodus.

I have no idea what you are twittering on about, where have i said anything to you about posting at all? Other than having a little chuckle at you getting all walter mitty with 'Street Fighting' techniques.

I will be monitoring and if i have to leave, so be it. All sides have plenty capacity for violence.

I would of thought with your street fighting techniques, you would have been happy to stay and fight. Just earlier you were saying that they would never be able to handle themselves in a fight in the UK

[WoopyDoo]

.

Anybody seen any very recent photos or detailed reports of the red gathering today?

Here are some of the latest pictures of the red rally site... time 14.07pm ..... But it's OK.... it's only a rehearsal

And for the sake of comparisons.....

Edited April 5, 2014 by WoopyDoo

[Fat Haggis]

I thought the PDRC were having a rally this week bigger than last weeks? which means it would trounce the Red Rally, which are all pointless and just sabre rattling at its best.

Whoopy Do, you're being a bit melodramatic believing that the reds will start hunting down Farangs, especially those who actually live within the red areas, most of these Farang have been embedded in these villages for a long time, you seem to think it's all about to go the way of Dante's inferno, it won't, it never will either, all it will take is a few words by one man, and it will all stop.

Don't be too hasty in packing your bags, and are you not the kind of man who stands an fights for his family and for honour and all the crap, or are you more of a " <deleted> this, I'm off, you lot can sort out your on mess" and leave all your loved ones behind

[Robby nz]

On another topic

This was at 2.20pm apparently

https://twitter.com/...2850432/photo/1

[Artisi]

.

Anybody seen any very recent photos or detailed reports of the red gathering today?

Here are some of the latest pictures of the red rally site... time 14.07pm ..... But it's OK.... it's only a rehearsal

And for the sake of comparisons.....

Looks like the police out number the red protestors - so that possibly means no trouble from the mob. However, after dark they might need to start lobbing grenades and firing into their crowd and then blame Suthep - always try to garner support however you achieve it.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Scott

[dcutman]

.

Anybody seen any very recent photos or detailed reports of the red gathering today?

It been showing live on Asia Update all day. The camera just panned over the crowd, really light attendance at the moment. Couple thousand maybe, at the one stage. Seems to be more people walking around and looking for food than listening to what the guy is saying on stage.

[NeilSA1]

So from 500.000 paid red shirts 3 days ago down to 200.000 yesterday and now 700.000! The guy who do their counting probably need a calculator to add 10 + 10.

The articles refers to various numbers -

".....About 100,000 red shirts are expected to gather..."

"... The figure has been adjusted down from their previous target of 500,000...."

"....National police chief Pol General Adul Saengsingkaew estimated that 60,000 red shirts would join today's rally...."

“....Meanwhile, the UDD spokesman Thanawut Vichaidit said the group is ready for their rally tomorrow, with about 700,000 protesters expected….”

We will have to wait in anticipation.

[WoopyDoo]

I thought the PDRC were having a rally this week bigger than last weeks? which means it would trounce the Red Rally, which are all pointless and just sabre rattling at its best.

Whoopy Do, you're being a bit melodramatic believing that the reds will start hunting down Farangs, especially those who actually live within the red areas, most of these Farang have been embedded in these villages for a long time, you seem to think it's all about to go the way of Dante's inferno, it won't, it never will either, all it will take is a few words by one man, and it will all stop.

Don't be too hasty in packing your bags, and are you not the kind of man who stands an fights for his family and for honour and all the crap, or are you more of a " <deleted> this, I'm off, you lot can sort out your on mess" and leave all your loved ones behind

The PDRC never announced a rally, they announced a meeting of leaders only.

They challenged the UDD to beat last week's numbers which have failed miserably, as you can see from the pics.

I would say maybe a little over 1000 there at 2pm... hahaha.

Stay and fight for what? My wife is coming with me, and her family can look after themselves... which Thai would ever stand up and fight for me?????

When civil war starts and foreign opinion starts flying in, there is usually a backlash against foreigners.

What would stop dumb red youths from adjoining villages who know where farang are outside their village from going over to taht village mob handed and do what they do best?

Do you really think every farang is an absolute superstar in the eyes of everyone in their village just because they lived there a long time?... You really don't know Thailand do you?

Thais are mostly jealous of farangs for what they perceive to be rich people living on the cheap in Thailand. That also breeds animosity.

I think you have a typical farang distorted view of how most Thais actually think about the farang.

How many westerners hung around Cambodia and Vietnam during their conflicts??

[Dogmatix]

First Army Division commander visits red-shirt rally site First Army Division Commander Maj Gen Apirat Kongsompong visited the rally site of the red-shirt movement on the Utthayan Road Saturday morning to check security for the demonstrators.

Apirat said he visited the site together with Deputy Police Commissioner General Pol Gen Worapong Chiewpreecha.

Apirat said he dispatched three companies of troops to help 19 companies of policemen to keep security at the rally site.

-- The Nation 2014-04-05

The National Police top brass have suddenly got very cosy with the army lately. Have they really abandoned their Dear Leader?

Maj Gen Apirat is clearly well qualified for the job of 'containing' the red shirt rally. Apart from his lineage as the son of a coup maker and a leading Taharn Prarn, he has extensive anti-UDD Men-in-Black combat experience and was in charge of the troops on the ground in the Dusit Thani area when Maj Gen Khattiya (Seh Daeng) met with that unfortunate accident in front of the equestrian statue.

Edited April 5, 2014 by Dogmatix

[WoopyDoo]

Well if this is their 'show of strength' then Suthep has clearly won this bet, and now the UDD have to pack up and go home as promised, or are they going to welsh on their bet?

There are probably 5 times that amount in Lumpini Park on a daily basis.

This was meant to send a strong message to those who are trying to oust the government? It looks more like a strong message to all those farang who keep harping on about 'the majority'.

[dcutman]

Well if this is their 'show of strength' then Suthep has clearly won this bet, and now the UDD have to pack up and go home as promised, or are they going to welsh on their bet?

There are probably 5 times that amount in Lumpini Park on a daily basis.

This was meant to send a strong message to those who are trying to oust the government? It looks more like a strong message to all those farang who keep harping on about 'the majority'.

Now give it some time Woop its still early. Red Shirts are more of a nocturnal creature. Not unlike rats and cockroaches, they like sneaking around at night.

[3NUMBAS]

depends on how many of the silent majority in BKK who are peed off with suthep bother to show up ,he the man who wants to rob them of their votes and free elections.

they dont have to be a red shirt

[ratcatcher]

Thai Rouge

If these boys think they have a future high-kicking, then maybe they should watch these ladies to see how it's done.

Moulin Rouge.

[jaiyen]

speaking to many thais on the street ... they all have the same opinion regarding these mass rallies ...

Everyone has had enough and they just want to get back to a normal life where there is no such thing as red shirts or yellow shirts.

They say it's time for the Yingluck government to go and stop all the thaksin corruption.

Maybe they should go out and protest !! Otherwise it will never happen.

[Artisi]

The PDRC never announced a rally, they announced a meeting of leaders only.

They challenged the UDD to beat last week's numbers which have failed miserably, as you can see from the pics.

I would say maybe a little over 1000 there at 2pm... hahaha.

Stay and fight for what? My wife is coming with me, and her family can look after themselves... which Thai would ever stand up and fight for me?????

When civil war starts and foreign opinion starts flying in, there is usually a backlash against foreigners.

What would stop dumb red youths from adjoining villages who know where farang are outside their village from going over to taht village mob handed and do what they do best?

Do you really think every farang is an absolute superstar in the eyes of everyone in their village just because they lived there a long time?... You really don't know Thailand do you?

Thais are mostly jealous of farangs for what they perceive to be rich people living on the cheap in Thailand. That also breeds animosity.

I think you have a typical farang distorted view of how most Thais actually think about the farang.

How many westerners hung around Cambodia and Vietnam during their conflicts??

Well, at least one TV member thinks he is his village's Grand Poobah. Kikoman. BTW, where is Kikoman? Haven't seen his posts in weeks. I thought for sure he would be hanging around the great UDD rally today. Too bad. I could have gone down there and asked him for his tortilla recipe.

Kikoman - more than likely banned and re-invented himself with a new title.

After all the hard work he put in, he's gone on the sauce.

Of course, that would be the red sauce variety.