Thailand's red-shirt protesters occupy TV compound

Thailand's red-shirt protesters occupy TV compound

news.bbc.co.uk

Thousands of Thai protesters have broken through police and army lines to occupy a building at a satellite station compound north of Bangkok.

Tear gas was used against the crowd but the anti-government protesters regrouped and pushed back, forcing the security forces to retreat.

"We want our TV back. You cannot shut our eyes and ears," a protest leader, Jatupom Prompan, was quoted by Reuters as saying.

The army has surrounded the compound...

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is looking more and more like a powder keg.

It's amazing to see the riot police being pushed back by the sheer numbers of protesters (video clip). According to the reporter at the scene it was the firing of tear gas that actually prompted the surge forward!

The good news is that the protesters are not (yet?) being fired upon...


news.bbc.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

The royal thai government and the security forces are reluctant to take aggressive action because that is exactly what the UDD red shirts want to aid there cause. The protesters don't even know why they are there, except that they are being paid for their time and they believe the lies sprouted by the UDD leaders who are lapdogs for Thaksin Shinawatra, the disgraced futitive former prime minister.

I hope the security forces regain control of the situation soon because Thaksin will not stop until he gets his stolen gains back, conviction overturned and his power back. He would be happy for a civil war.

Never have i seen the Thai nation so divided! i hope common sense prevails but then having lived here for a while, I wonder why it's called common sense, when it's not common at all?

reply to post by Hongkongphooey


Are you saying the uprising represents a small minority and that the majority want the status quo? And do you believe lethal force should be used by the authorities to regain control?

Yet another USA supported in-stabilization act in the world.

CIA is being busy this year.

reply to post by Skittle


Can you explain your evidence/the grounds for this assumption? (Or can you just feel it in your toes?)

reply to post by pause4thought


I certainly would not say that the Red shirts are the majority or the minority, they are a major force but are made up of the uneducated North and North Eastern rural poor who sell their vote and their soul for promises of money by a corrupt futitive. They aret bullies who cannot get their own way so like the playground type they resort to violence.

The rest of the population are thoroughly fed up with them and local residents in Bangkok, Pattaya and other towns are quite frequently getting into scuffles with the red shirts when they try to get them out of their residential and shopping areas. There was a huge scuffle in Pattaya yesterday afternoon in a shopping mall car park after local residents got infuriated with the red shirts tactics.

this is a battle about money and the only way to win is to better educate the uneducated who are easily manipulated. education is the key not violence as you cannot help people who do not know how to help themselves.

reply to post by Skittle


Absolute rubbish

I am the first to see the CIA hand in many things, but this has absolutely nothing to do with them, this is about one man. Thaksin Shinawatra and his attempt to regain power, elude justice, take back his ill gotten gains and help himself to some more of the same.

CIA stands for Cocaine Importing Agency, ask the Jed Bush

reply to post by Hongkongphooey


It's very good to have your knowledgeable input.

From a distance it's hard to imagine people acting so determinedly in the face of armed security forces just on the back of promises of financial reward. Surely their must be more to it? I understand that you are saying this is purely a power struggle on behalf of individual politicians — but surely there must be some issues of principle at stake?

Interesting what you say about the (more educated) townsfolk. Do you think they are sufficiently fed up that they might start counter-demonstrations?

Originally posted by Hongkongphooey
i hope common sense prevails but then having lived here for a while, I wonder why it's called common sense, when it's not common at all?

A truer phrase has never aired - well at least in Thailand

Originally posted by Hongkongphooey
There was a huge scuffle in Pattaya yesterday afternoon in a shopping mall car park after local residents got infuriated with the red shirts tactics.

Central is the only one I think has enough money to be bothered by them - where they there? Local residence there tend to be farang.

Originally posted by Hongkongphooey
I am the first to see the CIA hand in many things, but this has absolutely nothing to do with them, this is about one man.

I'll get back to you when I'm no longer in Thailand about this one.

Although I agree with you on the whole no CIA involvement with the Redshirts/UDD/Thaksin mob yet, as you know from previous correspondence between us, disagree with you whether or not the Redshirts have a case - however I do think all of your posts are erudite and worth reading as they do reflect the sentiment of people who have to tolerate these troubles.

You do state my end game answer though - which is education is the way out of this. Communication and resolution through agreed actions is the way forward. Something i don't think the Redshirts are capable of without some assistance.

Stars for each of your posts Hongkongphooey and I really look forward to reading more of them.

-m0r

Oh my, this doesn't look good (video):

Thailand troops advance in bid to clear protest camps

Thai troops are moving against two anti-government camps in the capital, Bangkok, vowing to clear at least one of them before dusk.

More than 90 people have been injured in clashes so far as security forces fired rubber bullets at the opposition red-shirted demonstrators...

Update:

Five people have been killed and 300 hurt in clashes in Thailand's capital, Bangkok, as troops tried to retake areas from anti-government protesters.

Soldiers and police fired tear gas and rubber bullets as they advanced after dusk on the red-shirt protesters, who responded by throwing petrol bombs.

The army has now called for a truce, saying its troops are retreating...

(Source: updated BBC article from previous post)

That's a fairly major escalation. Can you imagine the crowds walking away now, saying "OK, let's leave it at that"?

I can understand many other global citizens would hardly bother with what is happening in Thailand, either due to ignorance and be swayed by those with NWO agendas, or just plain apathy because such troubles are not happening in their own homeland.

However, what is happening now in Thailand is ESPACIALLY SIGNIFICANT to those who want to see how the NWO/Corporations can be taken down and not to play into their hands.

I have been to Thailand several times, and not on guided tours in luxury to Bangkok, but with a backpack and wandered around the huge landmass. Despite being the bread basket of Asia and earning huge amounts of foreign exchange on its chief export of excellent quality rice, the common masses were living in abject and unciounable poverty.

The only rich ones were members of the royal class, the few corrupt top army officials and the bootlicking small middle class whom live in luxurious Bangkok. The current King, although only a constitutional monarch, is highly revered by many, even those whom are not Thais, for he is a rare breed of good men who grace our planet.

But he is old and time is no longer on his side. He had tried to give a better life to his subjects, but being only a constitutional monarch, he cannot do much, unlike the power and money hungry gentrys. For years, these rich class had ignored the masses, and little social spending had been spent on them.

There had been many coup in Thailand, but such coup is only a musical chair game played amongst the rich class, on who should have a better share of the country's wealth, and had absolutely nothing to do with or for the common people.

Only ex PM Thaksin cared. Not all rich men are NWO stooges, so is not all poor men too. For once in centuries, Thaksin had tried to uplift the poor masses and fairly distribute wealth to the poor. But unfortunately, the rich class were aghast as sharing their wealth.

Socialism is only for the rich, and capitalism is for the poor. Thus Thaksin was smeared and kicked out. His hard work robbed and to be shared among the rich.

The rich class made use of the selfish small middle class to kick Thaksin out, naming themselves as the 'yellow shirts', mis representing themselves using the revered King's name by his perogative colour - royal yellow.

The rich class won and place their own puppet in Parliament, through a massively fradulent and corrupt election. The common people - 'red shirts', had enough, and thus the troubles began since then, to have their voice heard, peaceably.

And they had very much respect for the champions of democracy - USA. They specifically drove up to the US embassy on Thursday to hand over a note to assure the people of America that they will not resort to violence. And they didn't.

Until today, when some of the corrupt army used force and murder on them. Fortunately, many other arm forces officers refused to fire on their own brothers and sisters.

The Thai army is no pushover, and had credible successes against their neighbors during the border wars in the late 70s to fighting drug and communist insurgents. Their weapons are always pointing out, but never pointing in. Many of the soldiers lay down their weapons when facing their own people. They are one people.

It is a class struggle, of rich vs the common people, as it is now in the world - the rich Corporations against common humanity. There is enough wealth in the world to be shared with everyone, as it is in Thailand, but selfish actions will only result in major conflicts.

One needs not be educated to realize this. Hunger and poverty is the greatest teacher one can find.

The Thais were smart and generally a peaceful people who do not want violence. They only use the smartest way to get the rich on their knees, by stopping the flow of wealth by continual demostrations.

Wealth were never for them anyway, and have nothing to lose but so much to gain for themselves and their next generations, but the rich, who despairingly saw money slipping away daily, will insist on violence, and that may be how the troubles in Thailand will end - a peaceful people pushed to the brink and brutually murdered by the rich, for money......

What a lot of nonsense, you have visited Thailand several times as a backpacker and that makes you an expert on Thailand, get over yourself will you!

Only Thaksin cared? About himself! He has been the most corrupt PM Thailand has EVER seen and they have seen a few. I have been in Thailand for 25 years and have seen the Thai population grow in wealth, once where there was no middle class, just rich and poor, there is now a large middle class, created by the growth of the past couple of decades.

As stated before on several threads about this, the media misrepresents and distorts the truth trying to make this seem like a rich versus poor issue, but that is just a simplistic portrayal which does not tell anywhere near the truth of the situation.

The UDD red shirt protesters are being paid 1,500 Baht a day and a promise of 200,000 Baht for when they can bring Thaksin Shinawatra home as their saviour and PM again! Thaksin is paying and inciting the red shirts because he has had over $1 billion of his ill gotten wealth frozen and confiscated by the Thai courts. Thaksin has been found guilty by the Thai justice system after trying to buy off the court (with sandwich boxes filled with cash) and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment, which is why he is on the run and in self imposed exile.

The UDD red shirts claim they want democracy, but only a democracy where they are the winners. they are not willing to listen to other views, some democracy there.

Please get your facts straight before you make comments that inflame situations.

The Thai security forces tried everything peaceful to get the protesters to disperse as they have taken Bangkok hostage this past week but the red shirt thugs responded by throwing grenades and petrol bombs, so the response was rubber bullets. 18 people dead and 800 injured, many of them from the security forces. The red shirts are the aggressors here!

I hope peace comes to this beautiful nation soon but one man Thaksin Shinawatra has turned a peaceful people into the most divided nation I have ever seen and it is very sad to see. he will not stop until he gets his money and power back and is intent on causing civil war to achieve this, truly the actions of a man who cares for his country! Not, he is a selfish, egotystical, lieing, muderous monster who cares for nothing but himself.

Totally agree with HongkongPhooey, the previous poster is clueless as regards to Thailand.

I am a UK expat and live in Phuket. I am in Bangkok at the moment!

Anyone visiting Bangkok soon....Just stay away from the affected areas and its as if nothing out of the norm is happening. Just a few extra police checkpoints.

For those interested in this subject there is a Red Shirt Facebook page with photos from yesterdays battle. Not for the faint of heart, be warned.