Police Confront Reds Near Don Muang Airport

Posted on by Laughingnomad

About 2000 protestors in trucks and on motorcycles from the Saladaeng rally site were led by Red leader Kwanchai Phraiphana on a march to Talad Thai Market near Don Muang Airport to urge people to join the rally site. Hundreds of police fire rubber and live bullets in air but protestors sat on the highway and refused to budge until they were told by a Red leader to desist and return to the rally site.

Traffic is chaotic and Don Muang urged passengers to expect 3 hrs to 4 hrs for traveling to airport.

Local media reports police shooting rubber bullets and live ammunition in the air to stop protestors but CNN reports “gun battles” at more than one point which implies shooting on both sides. I’ll wait for local reports.

Kwanchai Phraiphana, the red-shirt leader, was arrested near the clash site at Don Muang (when Red Shirts ran into a gas station,) Thai Rath Online reported.

The paper said Kwanchai was arrested at 2:41 pm while was trying to flee back to Rajprasong.

The BBC is reporting that one soldier was killed by a shot to the head and 10 people injured.

The Matter of the Thai Monarchy

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Unspoken until now, in the background, is the matter of the Thai Monarchy.  The beloved king is old and sick and on his way out.  Many are wondering what will happen when he dies.  His son is unsuitable to replace him to say the least. The daughter is much loved…but it is questionable whether the people will accept a Queen.

The Yellows (Royalists) and current government support the Monarchy.  Those behind the Reds (and some academics)  speak of “modernizing” governance in Thailand. Traditionally, the King is the Head of State and is supposed to stay out of politics and the Prime Minister is the head of the government.

There are a myriad of rumors pointing to the self-exiled Thaksin who fled the country rather than accept a three year jail sentence for corruption and who is financing the Reds…ironically mostly made up of up-country farmers who Thaksin gave “nitnoy”  help  (little help) to while Prime Minister.

The government has now said they have uncovered a wide conspiracy to overthrow the King. The Reds deny it. Deputy PM Suthep says this morning that an arrest warrant for ex-General Chavalit (also rumored to be behind the “third hand” mercenaries who appeared with hi powered rifles and grenades on April 10 where 25 people were killed including 5 soldiers) will be issued if he refuses to testify in his involvement in an alleged plot to overthrow the Monarchy. The investigation of the alleged plot may be a way of getting him out of the way.

Prime Minister Abhisit said today at noon that the Puea Thai Party filed a police complaint against the PM and CRES on defamation charges for accusing it of involvement in a movement to topple the Monarchy.

Seems the Monarchy has become politicized and the Red farmers and Red sympathizers from Bangkok rallying in the streets are being manipulated and used by all sides.

A journalist for TIME, an expat who has lived in Bangkok for 15 years, has this to say:

On may 19, I watched my adopted city burn. Plumes of thick black smoke rose amid deserted office buildings about 1.5 km from my Bangkok home as troops stormed the Red Shirt camp. There, chaos reigned: protesters set buildings ablaze, soldiers exchanged fire with black-clad gunmen, ambulances raced off with the dead and wounded. But farther south, near my home, there was no bloodshed, just shuttered shops and deserted roads. This unsettled me almost as much. I have lived in Bangkok for 15 years. What terrible force could empty the streets of this once vibrant city?

Fear, of course. The fighting and standoff of the past two months have claimed the lives of at least 70 people — mostly civilians, including foreigners — and injured hundreds. Thais pride themselves on unity. Now they are at one another’s throats, and the institutions that have always claimed to represent their best interests are too outdated and mired in crises to pull them apart. All countries weave myths about themselves, and here is Thailand’s: its people live in harmony, regardless of class, creed or ethnicity, their stability and prosperity assured by unblinking loyalty to King, country and religion — the so-called three pillars of Thai-ness. (See a TIME video on the violence in Thailand.)

The battle of Bangkok has shattered the myth of national harmony. Many Thais welcomed the crackdown. They regarded moderate Reds as dupes and militant Reds as terrorists and both as funded by fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was overthrown in a 2006 military coup. But others, including those who were sick of the protests, shuddered to see soldiers firing live rounds at people armed with rocks and slingshots, if armed at all. The last time that happened was a generation ago, in 1992, when at least 48 people were killed. Now Thais watch with horror as their fast-modernizing nation slips back into a darker era.

In 1992 it was Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand’s widely revered King, who intervened to halt the violence. But this time the ailing monarch, now 82, has remained silent. Other key institutions that might play a mitigating role are too busy wrestling with their own dysfunctions. The parliament barely functions; mobs have twice burst through its gates in recent years. The judiciary, which in 2008 toppled a government that Red Shirts helped elect, is widely viewed as partisan and unreliable. So are the media: free-to-air television channels effectively skew to the official line. The police are corrupt and incompetent, and in recent days they were conspicuously absent on Bangkok’s lawless streets. Thailand even has a crisis of faith: Buddhism is reeling from repeated scandals that Pope Benedict XVI might recognize. (See pictures of the showdown in Bangkok.)

These institutions need reform. But they are shielded from scrutiny and even well-meaning criticism by custom, taboo and — in the monarchy’s case — draconian lèse majesté laws. How can a country progress when its people cannot safely debate the very institutions that are central to their lives?

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1990640,00.html#ixzz0ogOJhzVm

U.S. Consulate Info Meeting In Bangkok

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Before I left Bangkok, this last Monday Bob, who was in BKK for the weekend, and I attended a meeting in the Merriott Hotel Ballroom called by the U.S. Consulate for U.S. passport holders to update us on the current crisis in Thailand. They didn’t reveal or explain much that we already didn’t know about the political aspects. (Most of it is so complicated and there is such a lack of transparency that even the ordinary Thai doesn’t understand it).

The emphasis was on safety in case we found ourselves near a flair-up. No predictions. As most others have iterated, they said the only way to resolve this is political negotiation. They (as well as about 40 other countries) have been talking to the government and the Reds urging non-violence. Lot of good that is going to do! They said any negotiation needs trust and at the moment there is zero trust on either side. They warned that the conflict could very possibly be a very protracted one. If bombs go off near you, they said to get away from windows. When bombs went off in front of the embassy in Nairobi everyone ran to the windows and were taken out by the next bomb. That was about it.

I thought they grossly under-estimated the number of protestors…said 20,000. The Friday before the meeting, on my walk from Silom to Siam Center and then to the main rally site at Ratchaprasong, it was a veritable tent city on both sides of streets all the way. Every 50 yards, huge screens were relaying the events on the main rally stage. People were lined up for food at make-shift commissaries; tents and sleeping mats, personal effects everywhere. Basically they have set up house-keeping. Walled barricades composed of tires and sharpened bamboo poles lined the streets. Reminded me of the 70,000 striking teachers in Oaxaca in 2006. The Red Guards dressed in black with red bandanas and flash-lights have set up check-points and are issuing red identification cards because, to become less identifiable by the police and army in case of an attack, they now they are wearing no colors.

In the last three or four days, three police and 8 people have been injured in a grenade blast in front of an ex-Prime Minister’s  house; an M-79 grenade hit Chiang Mai police HQ. UDD (Red) protests have flaired in four province capitals where they are blocking police from entering Bangkok…where there apparently is not enough police to disperse the protestors. But that’s not the only problem. (A gross understatement!) At the same time that Prime Minister Abhasit is saying there will still be a crackdown if no agreement is reached, the Army General is saying that no blood will be spilled by the government troops. However, now this morning, the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation is saying they have given the police permission to use live ammunition. A bomb went off in front of Bangkok Bank this morning…the bank chosen because one of the political backers has close ties with it.

Any compromise must balance between the mounting public pressure to hold elections and resistance by Abhisit’s government and its military backers to a potentially unfavorable vote. One way forward could be a delayed election timetable that gives red-shirt leaders a reason to end their rally with a promise to return if the government doesn’t deliver. Fat chance.

Simon Westlake of the Christian Science Monitor, in his report April 26 shows how complicated the conflict on the ground is:

Government officials accuse the red shirts of harboring “terrorists” armed with military firearms and explosives. Red shirt leaders have denied the charges and disowned the shadowy paramilitaries.

The red shirts’ antigovernment movement is supported from exile by former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, whom Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya recently compared to Hitler and Mussolini.

Mr. Piromya berated foreign governments for not apprehending. “He is a bloody terrorist,” he told a seminar at Johns Hopkins University in Washington.

For all the hyperbole, there is growing evidence of an armed red-shirt wing, abetted by sympathizers in military headquarters who have leaked confidential plans.

Thai media identified one combatant caught on film during the April 10 clashes as a paramilitary border guard. Security sources say mercenaries with military or police backgrounds are also involved and that training camps have sprung up outside Bangkok.

A shared background

This doesn’t mean that rogue officers like Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol, an ally of Mr. Thaksin who was suspended this year from duty, are taking control of government troops, say analysts and Western diplomats. General Khattiya is a celebrity among red shirts and is known for issuing threats against his enemies.

Divided loyalties among the rank-and-file, most of whom share similar rural backgrounds as the protesters, remain a concern for commanders in the event of a crackdown.

Red shirts can also probably count on the sympathies of Thailand’s police, who have been reluctant to confront them.

“There isn’t a breakdown of the Army command structure,” says Paul Quaglia, director of PSA Asia, a security consultancy in Bangkok. “But it’s hard for them to keep a secret.”

Offer Refused By Thai PM-Reds Expect Crackdown

Posted on by Laughingnomad

   So talks are off and Reds say they are expecting a crackdown within 48 hours. Apparently military watermelons are leaking information to the Reds about military build-up and movements. Apparently the military said they have to wait for the right time and separate out the women and children before they crackdown on the “terrorists” and arrest the Red leaders.  But how the heck they would do this I have no idea. One never knows how to take these pronouncements.

In the meantime, groups of Red Shirts in the upper NE are converging on Mitraphap Rd. in Udon Thani to stop 178 policemen from joining the security forces in Bangkok.  Some people are fearful that the resistance will migrate out into the provinces and plunge the country into anarchy.

The Prime Minister went on a public TV station this morning to be interviewed and explain the government’s position but it was scrambled after the first few minutes by somebody.  This would be like President Obama giving an address to the nation but Dick Cheney’s inside hacks scrambling the station.  It’s interesting that I was shocked but the hotel employees I was watching it with were not.  Just that enigmatic Thai smile that can mean anything. Eventually, the station was broadcasting again.  Wish I could have understood it but by this time the bilingual hotel employees were watching another station.

Back at the rally site,  Reds have decided to abandon their Red color and they are already distributing different colored shirts this morning…obstensibly to become unidentifiable if the military intervenes.

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A Pull Back From The Brink?

Posted on by Laughingnomad

The Reds who have been holding Bangkok hostage for six weeks have given the government an offer today with the following conditions:

  •  That the government stop threats and harassment
  •  That an independent body will undertake an investigation into recent violence.
  •  That the  Abhisit government dissolves the House within 30 days.If the government agrees to dissolve the House within one month, after the House dissolution, the government will have another 60 days to prepare for elections.

Also, Army chief General Anupong Paochinda has ruled out the use of force to resolve the political predicament, saying that “the use of force would only cause untold damage and far reaching implications but the problem will not end.”

Now we are waiting to see how the government will respond. Prime M Abhisit Vejjajiva has already offered to hold elections by the end of 2010 – one year ahead of schedule, to cease the political deadlock caused by red shirts rallies.

One wonders what the arrest of an actor turned activist has to do with this:

BANGKOK (NNT) — A key supporter of the anti-government United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD or Reds) disclosed that the black-clad firemen captured on video were involved in the 10 April attack on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, according to the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

The actor-turned-activist Methi Amornwuttikul, who is also a leading supporter of the UDD (Reds), was nabbed yesterday by police while carrying heavy weapons. He was suspected to be involved in armed attacks against state troops on 10 April.

According to DSI Chief Tarit Pengdit, Mr Methi gave out information on the source of armories he was holding. He revealed that the men in black, who were caught on tape firing grenades during the 10 April clash, were also involved in the series of bomb blasts on Silom Road on Thursday night.

Mr Tarit stated that the authorities were compiling information and evidence, which could not yet be unveiled.

In Thailand, attackers and those behind the plots or involved with what is officially being termed as “terrorism,” could face death sentences for their actions against public order and well being.  A plea bargain against conviction could sure make Mr. Tarit sing.

BTS And Parts of MRT Closed In BKK

Posted on by Laughingnomad

It’s 6pm Friday and Bob just called that he couldn’t get on the skytrain at Nana to get to Asoke.  All of sky train closed down. And this morning the subway was closed between Asoke and the Thailand Cultural Center where I was supposed to go this morning to my dentist so I took a taxi.

Expecting something no good to happen tonight.

Panel Discussion On Thai Conflict At FCCT

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Six weeks have passed since the mostly upcountry Reds launched protests in Bangkok and two since the occupation of Ratchaprasong intersection. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has not wavered in his resolve to stay on as premier amidst calls for him to step down, and the country remains in an increasingly intractable crisis with no clear end in sight.

Thailand’s ongoing political impasse reached it’s most recent boiling point on Saturday April 10 when troops clashed with red shirt protesters leaving 25 dead and 840 injured.

Last night, Thursday April 22, at the very moment that the grenades were going off at the Sala Deang sky train station, the second Red rallying site, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand was hosting a panel discussion on the conflict to speculate on what could possibly be done to end it with any lasting results.  The presenters, however, weren’t about to expose themselves politically by giving any clear answers even if they had any.

The panelists:
-His Excellency Lennart Linnér, Ambassador of Sweden to the Kingdom of Thailand since 2007 stressed the need for the international community to speak out and for responsibility of the press to not distort the facts which could possibly further divide the country and tip it into chaos and possibly civil war.

– Prof Thanet Aphornsuvan, former Dean of Liberal Arts at Thammasat University where he currently is the Associate Professor of Liberal Arts. He brought his perspective from his student days as an activist during the 1972 riots that left hundreds dead. He said that in spite of what you think about the Reds, the mainly agricultural and poorly educated people from upcountry, that that population has now become politicized which may be the point at which the people begin to stop looking up to the “caretakers” (or the elite if you want to call them that) for answers and instead become participatory members of Thailand’s democracy, such as it is, which has never happened before in the history of the country. He also spoke of Thailand’s need for it’s governmental structure to become “modernized,” whatever that means to him, and more participatory. To many of us, it implied a reference to the future of the Monarchy.

– Prof Gothom Arya, director of the Research Centre for Peace Building at Mahidol University. Professor Arya taught electrical engineering at Chulalongkorn University in 1997 and subsequently became an Election Commissioner until 2001. After that, he was Chairman of National Social and Economic Advisory Council. He spoke about the possibility (or not) of negotiation and peace-making at this point in the conflict where both sides have only become more entrenched in their positions due to the tactical errors of the government. For example, why was it necessary to issue an emergency decree which only served to place the government in the position it is in now wherein to follow the rule of law they would be required to unleash the military on thousands of it’s own citizens who are refusing the order to disband. They were a nuisance, he said, but were they really a threat?

My question: At what point does rhetoric cease to become free speech but instead a means of inflaming enough anger to send a country into anarchy. The Reds have been saying since the beginning that they intend to burn down the city. I don’t know Thailand’s position on free speech. I have been thinking about a similar issue a little closer to home…the fiery rhetoric of radio commentators like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck and the others at Fox News that are continuing to distort the truth for millions of an uninformed electorate. To what extent is their rhetoric causing a meteoric rise in the number of extremist militias in the U.S.? To what extent will we follow what is happening in Thailand now and try to bring down a corrupt government through violence instead of the ballot box? But this discussion is for another day.

– Dr Pijaya Nagavajara, director of BMA General Hospital (Klang Hospital), the nearest hospital to the clash area that had a capacity of around 80 beds but had to triage and treat over 800 hundred injured and dead people the night of April 10. Definitely could put him into that arrogant attitudinal category of the “elite,” in my opinion! One amazing fact: “his hospital,” (he repeated this at least 30 times) the nearest to the site of the melee, is public, and injured Thais are required to go their first to be triaged before being shipped out again to other farther-flung and private hospitals. My physician husband who was with me just shook his head.

In a few minutes, at 4pm Friday April 23, the supposed pro-government “no coloreds” or “rainbows” will gather at the Royal Plaza… promising to bring in 100,000 people. Renaming this group of people doesn’t take away the fact that they are really led by the Royalist PAD, and you can be sure they and their Yellow Shirts, who held the Government House hostage for 193 days and took over the airport in 2008, will be among them. Their fiery leaders were impressive speakers at the meeting I attended with a Yellow Shirt friend last Saturday at Rangsit University. They decided at this meeting (or before) that if the government and the Reds didn’t resolve the conflict in 7 days they were “coming out.” Did we see them at the Sala Deang sky train station on Silom Rd last night? But hey, today is Friday, “and it is the 7th day!”

No one expects an end to this any time soon. But to end this on a lighter note, you should have seen my husband, who is here from his home in Jomptien Thailand to visit me in Bangkok before I leave, scamper past the Red’s encampment, down Sukhumvit from the Maneeya building, to the nearest Chid Lom sky train entrance last night after the FCCT meeting! LOL

Reds And Anti-Reds Clash AT Sala Deang

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Pro Government Protestors had grouped around the Saladaeng sky train station on Silom Road beginning Monday night as a response to the Red’s second rally site at the Silom/Rama IV intersection across the road from the station.

The Reds had been threatening to take over Silom business district and the people there (and probably not a few Yellow Shirts) were vowing to stop the Reds.  The two groups  had been taunting each other since I was there late Monday afternoon.

Finally on Thursday night April 22, tempers boiled over when one of the Silom protestors burned a red handkerchief and all hell broke loose.

Hundreds of police, lined up 30 deep in the intersection between the two groups, had difficulty keeping them separated from each other’s bottles, sling shots and other lethal flying debris.  The army was holed up on the sky train flyover.

The clash reached it’s height when five M-79 grenades apparently were launched from behind the Rama VI statue in Lumpini Park, behind the rubber tire and spiked bamboo Red barricade, where many Reds were grouped. The Reds are denying they were responsible.  Many people are wondering if it was indeed some rogue Reds or a “Third Hand.”

The first hits took place a little after 8.00pm. Police said three explosions, believed to be M-79 grenades, were fired at the third floor of the the sky train. The explosions sent people waiting at the station running out in panic.

The fourth explosion hit the roof of the sky train station shortly after.

The fifth bomb attack took place in front of Bank of Ayudhya’s Sala Daeng branch near Sala Daeng skytrain about 20.45pm. The blasts killed one woman and injured nearly 80 people, four of them foreigners crazy enough to be there.

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Photos again courtesy of Gary Jones, British journalist based in Hong Kong.

Stand-Off AT Silom And Ratchaprasong

Posted on by Laughingnomad

Yesterday, I went to the Silom business district to pick up some pharmaceuticals. I knew the Reds were threatening to take over the area around the Bangkok Bank there that has ties to the Democrat Party, but didn’t realize they were already amassed at the Saladaeng/Silom intersection and that the army had dug in on the sky train walkways above Silom street. They looked rather forlorn and sad to me, lying on the floor and leaning against the wall in their heavy uniforms in the heat. This would make two rally sites if they moved into Silom.

People had been giving them food and drink and the garbage was beginning to pile up. Black netting was being hung along the open sides of the skytrain walkways to hide the troop movements…with peep holes cut out at eye level.

Shoppers, business men in suits, tourists and vendors (and probably a number of Red “scouts”) were all stopping to watch and take pictures. A large number of pro-government No Colours group were gathering…I suspect many of them Yellow Shirts and the PAD) and were waving flags and protesting in front of Silom Complex. The traffic on Silom was moving but slow.

A group of police were standing in formation to guard the entrances to the MRT subway station and the Dusit Hotel. Walking up the street I ran into my British journalist neighbor who had just watched some people handing out donuts to the police! </strong If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes he said laughing! So even in Thailand the police are eating donuts! :))

I took the sky train, which is now closed at Saladaeng, to Siam station and from there walked all the way to Ratchaprasong, along the rally site that now actually stretches all the way from Silom, past Ratchaprasong, to the Chit Lom station and beyond. All along the way, there were huge screens set up about every 50 yards so the people who had made a home for themselves in the street could see and hear what was going on on the main stage. Openings every so often allowed intrepid people like me to cross the street to the other side with helpers holding flashlights to keep you (or this silly old tourist) from tripping and falling down.

At the main rally site at Ratchaprasong they have a very large black net hanging above the seated crowd that completely engulfs the entire intersection…probably for shade and to protect the people on stage from sniper fire. High above the stage now is a huge sign in English!

We Just Want Democracy

Just as I was trying to squeeze into the cheek to jowl crowd to get a look at how far back down the street the crowds went from the stage at the intersection, a man came on stage to speak in English to warn (who?) that if the Reds were attacked the army would be using tanks and all manner of weaponry. Of course no one reacted…it being in English and all.

The Reds have set up six blockades around the Rajaprasong rally site to deter any attempt to disperse them. This reminds me of Oaxaca when the striking teachers set up blockades to all the streets leading into the Zocalo (plaza) to keep out the police in case there would be attempt to rout them again. Only they burned their garbage at night at these blockades which kept them warm and the vermin away. Bangkok, on the other hand, is collecting quite a large supply of it…garbage I mean…but probably vermin too.

The Red Shirts were distributing green armbands to reporters, but reporters were refusing to wear them because they were printed with “House Dissolution” wording.

The red shirts have been stockpiling home-made weapons, such as acid bombs and wooden clubs spiked with nails, to brace for a fight with the riot forces, Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd said today.

It is widely speculated that the anti-riot operation will take place within this week to disperse the reds from Rajaprasong Intersection.

“In light of the reds’ stockpiling, the riot forces have relocated their barricades to keep a safe distance of 40 yards in order to avoid accidental clashes,” Sansern said.

The malls and even Starbucks around the Chitlom sky train station were all closed…but guess what was open! McDonalds! Full of Reds! I had to laugh out loud all to myself!

By this time it was dark and I was drenched in sweat and exhausted. I stopped in at the Foreign Correspondent’s Club in the Penthouse of the Maneeya Building at the Plounchit station to use up some chits and drink a huge glass of draft Heineken! Hardly anyone there to trade stories with…all out working the streets I guess.

In his email my British friend: Like you,he said, I walked back. Had to give up around Nana and get a motorbike to my friend’s place…Dehydrated. Dying. I chuckled.

Today there is an interesting and rather dangerous development in the Silom business area. We had no involvement in some stickers being given out with a message to promote “New Thai State under President Thaksin Shinawatra”the leader of the Reds, Natthawut Saikua, said.

The stickers, with white message on red background, were distributed in public places along Silom Road….I suspect as a destabilizing tactic by the Yellow Shirts. Thaksin has issued a statement declaring his allegiance to the Monarchy and denouncing the stickers’ makers via the media.

Meanwhile the Reds have decided against the push into Silom Road. Guess all those army soldiers with big guns had a deterrent affect.

Prime Minister Abhasit has repeated the crowd control procedures based on progressive severity but refused to give the timetable for dispersing the crowds.

Because the red shirts are armed, the riot forces have adjusted their tactical plan – allowing the use of live ammunition for self defense and avoiding physical engagement, he said, citing the instruction of Army chief General Anupong Paochinda.

The avoidance of physical engagement means riot forces would no longer line up with shields to push back protesters. The next anti-riot operation, if it happens, will see riot forces using rubber bullets to keep a safe distance from protesters and of course will only use live ammo “if they feel their lives are in danger.” Give me a break! That’s what was supposed to happen April 10 at the main rally site at the Ratchaprasong intersection!