Red Shirt protest in Thailand

last SG · 2010-04-23T16:23:01+00:00

'Red Shirt' guard arrestedBANGKOK - THAI police said on Tuesday they had arrested a 'Red Shirt' guard in connection with an arson attack on the country's big...

sbst275 SG

Dissolve Abhisit's party

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S Election Commission recommended the embattled ruling party be dissolved on Monday, potentially handing victory to anti-government protesters who have demanded the prime minister step down.

The ruling comes the same day that Thailand's influential army chief appeared to back a key demand of the protesters, saying Parliament might need to be dissolved to resolve the country's violent political standoff.

Together, the comments by Gen. Anupong Paochinda and the election body's decision could spell the end of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's rule, which the protesters say is illegitimate.

Mr Abhisit was largely seen as having the backing of the powerful military, which has traditionally played an important role in the country?s politics, and has not hesitated to step in with coups in times of political instability. But his control of security forces has increasingly been called into question over the past month as protesters repeatedly marched through the capital. On Saturday, soldiers and police failed to dislodge demonstrators, setting off clashes that killed 21.

The commission found the Democrat Party - Thailand's oldest - guilty of misusing campaign donations. The ruling will have to be endorsed by the Constitutional Court before the party of Mr Abhisit is disbanded. No date was set for the court to hear the case.

'If the issue cannot be resolved through political means, then Parliament dissolution seems to be a reasonable step,' Gen. Anupong told reporters. 'If people want a government of national unity, then by all means, go ahead. I just want peace to prevail. Right now the circumstances dictate that a solution should be achieved through political means,' he said. -- AP

http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/SEAsia/Story/STIStory_513699.html

xXIron_fistXx SG

Dear Jesus,

I sincerely hope Thailand people can be freed from political problems.

Frequent change of power makes the country unstable.

In Jesus name, we pray.

Amen.

As romanista2001 SG

Jesus can't hear your prayers..........................anyway, it's God's Will that things are turning to shit in Thailand mah.....................so if Jesus stop the riots, he'll be going against his daddy...................

or maybe, it's the Devil at Work hor.......................

i'm surprised this simple problem also they can't solve..................make use of the King, have him DEMAND the protesters stop............if they refuse to stop, the PM then can say they are going against the King and just send in the Army to CRUSH them without mercy......................the King is the trump card here.

QX179R SG

Red Shirt leaders escape

BANGKOK - THAI commandos stormed a Bangkok hotel on Friday where leaders of the Red Shirt protest movement were holed up, but the mission ended in dramatic failure after the suspects managed to flee.

One leading Red Shirt climbed down an electric cable from the third floor of the hotel in Bangkok's northern outskirts before being rushed away by jubilant supporters, despite the presence of dozens of riot police nearby.

The bungled attempt to arrest the Red Shirt leaders came days after the army tried in vain to clear an area of the capital of anti-government demonstrators in an operation that sparked the country's deadliest civil unrest in 18 years.

As special forces surrounded the SC Park Hotel, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban announced to the nation in a televised address that the authorities were swooping on 'terrorists' and their leaders inside the building.

But the government later admitted the mission had failed and the red-clad movement said all of their leaders had escaped, vowing to turn up the heat on embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

'Police kicked the door open and threw smoke and stun grenades into the room, but luckily I ran to the window and used an electric cord to climb down,' said Red Shirt leader Arisman Pongruangrong. 'Now our mission is to hunt down Abhisit and Suthep. Our patience is at its limit.' -- AFP

QX179R SG

Red Shirts boost base security

BANGKOK - THAI anti-government protesters stepped up security at their base in a ritzy Bangkok shopping centre on Saturday, a week after bloody clashes with security forces killed 24 people.

Under leaden skies, thousands of protesters gathered to commemorate the deaths as medical supplies, sanitary facilities and foodstalls were set up at the base that the 'red shirts'have pledged to turn into a 'final battleground' to oust Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

Mr Abhisit said he would crack down on the protesters who he calls 'terrorists', and on Friday put his army chief in charge of security operations at the expense of Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban after a bungled attempt to arrest red shirt leaders.

However, he indicated that there would be no immediate attempt to dislodge the protesters, calling for patience.

'There has been more talk of crackdown and possible attempts to take us in, so we have to make sure we are not infiltrated,' protest leader Nattawut Saikua said, adding that the red shirts had no plans to march on Saturday.

The political crisis in Thailand has hit tourism, a mainstay of South-east Asia's second largest economy, hard and caused a selloff in the stock market which has given up almost all of this year's gains as foreign investors have sold heavily. -- REUTERS

TTFU SG

Dear jesus. I hope you can stop your trolls here from spreading to news discussion.

The situation there is out of control now. Time for the Pm to xia tai.....

QX179R SG

More protests vowed

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S powerful army chief Anupong Paochinda yesterday met top commanders as 'red shirts' pledged to escalate protests again to pressure Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to call an early election.

But government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn insisted that the authorities would not use force against red shirt protesters in downtown Bangkok.

'People want this settled quickly, but the authorities also face their limitations. There are a lot of people out there and we cannot do anything harsh,' he told the Associated Press.

The red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship has been campaigning for more than a month in the capital, and the protests showed few signs of losing steam yesterday.

A daytime crowd of about 2,000 people at the upscale Ratchaprasong intersection swelled to nearly 10,000 by evening.

In a surprise statement yesterday, co-leader Nattawut Saikuar told reporters that on May 15, all 24 leaders who have arrest warrants out for them would surrender to the police.

QX179R SG

Thai army to punish if needed

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S military vowed on Sunday to 'punish' anti-government protesters if they march on Bangkok's central business district, heightening fears of more violence after bloody clashes left 24 people dead a week ago.

Red-shirted supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday they may take their protest to the financial district, two blocks away from their main downtown protest base, on Tuesday, in defiance of an emergency decree.

'We won't let them go anywhere further,' army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said.

Sansern stopped short of using the word 'crackdown' but said protesters occupying the plush shopping and hotel district for a 16th day, would be dealt with.

'Let's say that we are left with no choice but to enforce the law,' Sansern told TNN television.

'If we have to clash, we will. We need to enforce the law decisively. We can't just think that 'we don't want casualties', otherwise the country can't move forward. Casualties would only happen after security forces have tried their best to avoid them, while those people are trying to take away our weapons and lives.' -- REUTERS

I-like-flings(m) SG

jia you jia you...i support thaksin....maybe he will even give back sg's assets in thailand if he is back

Kawac151 SG

the news say that the red shirt leaders will surrunder next month.

Acidshuriken SG

the news say that the red shirt leaders will surrunder next month.

which news? the one controlled by yellow shirts?

Kawac151 SG

which news? the one controlled by yellow shirts?

Channel 5 news ytd.

QX179R SG

'Yellow shirts' counter-protest?

BANGKOK - A FRAGILE peace returned to Bangkok's key shopping district at the weekend, but the regrouping of the pro- government 'yellow shirts' has raised concerns of possible bloody street violence in the days ahead.

Yesterday, they said after talks that they would take to the streets if the government failed to stop protests by the anti-government red shirts within a week.

Several thousand supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) met earlier on the outskirts of Bangkok to discuss how to respond to the weeks- long and increasingly confrontational protests by the red-shirted United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD).

The PAD was responsible for ousting then premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom most red shirts support, in 2006 and for kicking out another ruling alliance headed by his allies two years later.

Diplomats and regional security officials said the prospect of the yellow shirts jumping into Thailand's toxic political mix could set the stage for a bloody confrontation with pro-Thaksin red shirts, who have taken over Bangkok's glitzy shopping district and waged bloody battles with security forces in recent days.

'The situation is already so tense. The question is, can the armed forces cope if all these different groups start occupying Bangkok's streets?' said a South-east Asian diplomat who has lived in Bangkok for more than four years.

-- ST

QX179R SG

Thai army gets tough

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S army is toughening up procedures for confronting thousands of anti-government protesters in Bangkok and may use weapons to deal with them 'decisively', an army spokesman said on Tuesday.

'We can no longer use the soft to hard steps,' spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters.

'We have to keep a distance between troops and demonstrators. If they try to break the line, we will start using tear gas, and if they do break the line, we need to use weapons to deal with them decisively.' -- REUTERS

QX179R SG

Red Shirts cancel march

BANGKOK - THAILAND'S anti-government protesters on Tuesday cancelled plans to march on Bangkok's financial hub, saying they were thwarted by thousands of troops who poured in to protect the district.

Soldiers and riot police descended on the Silom financial strip on Monday, armed with assault rifles and laying out razor wire to block the demonstrators' threat to march there from their nearby rally base in the retail heartland.

'Red Shirt protesters will not march into Silom Road because the government has already sent ten of thousands of armed soldiers to occupy the road,' leader Nattawut Saikuar said. 'But we will wait and see, and whenever soldiers withdraw we will go there to offer our support for the businessmen.'

Mr Nattawut said the Reds would not make any alternative plans for a march, but would instead instead focus on bolstering their numbers at their sprawling rally base, in anticipation of a crackdown to end four weeks of rallies.

'Before we go into the big battle we have to strengthen our own camp because the military will soon attack us,' he said, adding that they expect the offensive to hit before next Monday.

'Red Shirt people will stay here until we win, so if the authorities want to crack down, they don't have to wait for seven days, they can come right now.' -- AFP

SGporkz SG

hopefully things get better asap..

but aug ill be there..

Worcer SG

Really sad that innocent poor ppl get drag into this war that the rich and powerful plays.

Wat do the ppl get out of this? Whoever that gets on the seat of prime minister,thailand is still goin to be the same.

Its always the rich and powerful trying to hold their power in line.Using simplistic minds of innocent ppl into blood shed not really necessary.

TTFU SG

Thailand has far worse politics than sg....

QX179R SG

Red Shirts fortify camps

BANGKOK - TENSIONS escalated in the standoff between anti-government demonstrators and Thai security forces as the army said deadly force could be used against protesters besieging the heart of the capital.

The so-called 'Red Shirt' demonstrators, meanwhile, reinforced defenses at their urban encampment - already shrouded with netting to foil the prying eyes of potential attackers - and prepared homemade weapons including hundreds of sharpened bamboo poles and broken up pavement stones.

No new clashes were reported as the Red Shirts, who have occupied Bangkok's streets for more than five weeks, abandoned plans to march into the central business district after soldiers in full combat gear were garrisoned there to bar the way.

The protesters consist mainly of poor rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists who opposed the military coup that ousted him in 2006. They want Parliament dissolved immediately and new elections called.

Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for the government's Center for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation, said the guidelines for suppressing violent protests were being adjusted because the authorities had found, 'terrorists infiltrating the demonstrators were preparing to use weapons such as throw type bombs, sharpened sticks and sticks tied with nails, as well as acid'.

Security forces previously were told to abide by seven-stage rules of engagement, where warnings would be followed by a slowly escalating use of force, meant to minimise casualties. They are equipped with live ammunition and authorised to use it in self-defence. -- AP

QX179R SG

Anger against protesters

BANGKOK - ANGER among Bangkok residents mounted on Thursday against anti-government protesters who have entrenched themselves in the capital's commercial district, causing the closure of hotels and offices and disrupting incomes.

A loose coalition opposed to the so-called Red Shirts, who are demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve Parliament and call new elections immediately, planned a mass rally on Friday, further splitting the city into hostile camps.

They also were preparing further confrontations with the protesters across an intersection adjacent to their 'occupation zone' where angry residents Wednesday night scuffled with Red Shirts and shouted 'Give back our city' and 'Hillbillies, get out.'

The anti-Red Shirt group includes office employees, middle class families, academics, some low-wage workers and members of the Yellow Shirts, a group that supports the current government and who themselves rampaged through Bangkok and seized the city's airports two years ago.

On Thursday, several hundred protesters rallied in front of the regional headquarters of the United Nations, submitting a request for international peacekeepers to monitor the situation in Thailand.

Despite government warnings that the demonstrators would no longer be able to stage marches outside their enclave, authorities did nothing to stop the peaceful rally. -- AP