There's Rioting in Our Streets, Part 2

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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An update here. Quite a good analysis here.

A commentator on TV just pointed out how odd it was that no one had tried to torch any of the Shinawatra buildings – owned by Thaksin Shinawatra. Yes, they are targeting business owned by Thaksin enemies. Central World is part of the Central Department Store empire and that family is an enemy, as mentioned. I’ll bet all Central shopping centers remain closed today, but we’ve not gone over to look at Central Rama III by us. Bangkok Bank, too, is controlled by an anti-Thaksin family and thus the torchings of their branches. However, Channel 3 has a pro-Thaksin reputation, and it was attacked yesterday and remains off the air now; it seems like the reds have just gone berserk against any media.

It’s fairly quiet in our area. Only two bank torchings, but this morning someone burned a police box over on Rama III Road.

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Seeing how the police let the red shirts run riot anywhere they go, it serves them well.

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Indeed! The police have always generally been pro-Thaksin. He was a police cadet. Just an honest cop who somehow became a multi-billionaire. :dubious:

Odd, but I’ve not seen anything about the new Airport Rail Link terminal, and I saw it on fire myself.

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And the curfew has been extended another day, to include Friday night. Instead of 8pm to 6am, it will be changed from 9pm to 5am. I don’t know if the new hours include tonight or are just for Friday night.

And Stickman has some updates here.

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OMG. The new posts are pretty damn scary. It looks like the redshirt brigade is willing and able to set the whole city ablaze. To what end, one might wonder.

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I hope that all of the assets they’ve frozen go to rebuilding.

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There is a wonderful political cartoon by local French cartoonist Stephff. See it here.

I mentioned the curfew had been extended another night. It seems to include Saturday night/Sunday morning as well. The hours are have been shortened to 9pm-5am, including tonight (Thursday night).

Pockets of resistance continue throughout the city. Either 38 or 39 fires have been set as of this afternoon, depending on the report. Might be 40 now, as some obscure Bangkok Bank branch was just torched a little while ago, I hear. Some bank branches have burned to the ground, but the big casualties are Central World, Big C Supercenter (Ratchadamri branch), Center One (a shopping mall at Victory Monument) and Siam Theater. Those four have been completely destroyed. A friend’s girlfriend was owner, along with one of her friends, of two shops inside that Big C: One on the ground floor and another on the fourth floor. Gone. Dunno if anyone’s insurance will cover that.

Armed gunmen in black continue to shoot at firefighters, preventing them from putting out many of these blazes. This has not been simply rioters raging through the city. Many if not most of these fires were methodically planned and carried out, the evidence shows. And many of these rioters are just your normal societal delinquents who think it fun to Stick It to the Man and would be doing this no matter the cause or government. There’s a joint police-military team consisting of 112 companies trying to catch all of these bastards, but it’s taking time.

In response to complaints from the public, banks will be allowed to open nationwide from tomorrow. I don’t know how that affects ATMs. Actually, I hadn’t even heard that banks themselves were going to be closed a long time. It may only be branches in shopping centers, dunno. All locations of Central shopping centers have remained closed today.

The wife and I ventured out into Narathiwat Soi 24 today. Most shops were open – and packed. Subway and Starbucks were doing a booming trade. I guess people were staying home and not going anywhere. They certainly couldn’t go over to the nearby Central Rama III mall. The convenience store with the pamicky Indians was still doing a brisk trade but not packed like last night and with a greater variety of customers. The produce shelves had pretty much been wiped clean, though. I picked up a fair share of Singha beer, hehehe.

The government has been providing buses to protesters wanting to go back home upcountry. I don’t know if they’re checking everyone’s bags or what, but they’ve been catching some carrying looted goods! Designer sunglasses and watches from shops in the protest area. Arrested 10 so far, I think. :smiley:

Update here.

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Oops! Sorry about the double post above. #238 and #239. How the heck did THAT happen? :o

This one’s good: Injustice for Thaksin? The Drug-War Dead Must Weep. (During Thaksin’s much-publicized 2003 War on Drugs, the police took the opportunity to fill their quotas by settling old scores and ginning down rivals as “drug dealers.” IIRC, some 3000 people were killed, very few of them real dealers. Thaksin pooh-poohed the concerns of human-rights groups.)

It’s just turned 9pm. Curfew time!

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Wow. Quite a story - you’re in the midst of history being made. Thanks for keeping us posted. Hope all our ThaiDopers keep themselves safe, and that this crisis passes soon.

Where’s the King in all this? Surprised he hasn’t been on the air.

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I personally cannot comment on that individual without running the risk of a prison sentence and/or expulsion. Only happy thoughts are by law permitted in that regard, and those of us with differing views keep quiet if we know what’s healthy for us.

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I just saw in a CNN Report that Emporium went unscathed - do you know who owns that one? Our offices, when I worked in Thailand, were located in the office tower there, near the 20th floor.

Another blurb has Thaksin denying he’s the leader of the Reds. Maybe he could denounce them or their actions, then? Nah, didn’t think so.

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The Emporium is pretty far from the action. It’s owned by The Mall Group, which owns the various Mall Department Stores dotted around the area, as well as Siam Paragon. In fact, we have a discount card that’s good at both The Emporium and Siam Paragon. The Emporium’s traffic has picked up quite a bit since the protest started; they’ve actually benefitted from it.

The Emporium is something of a survivor. It opened in mid-1997 amid much fanfare, JUST about the time the economic crash hit on July 2. When that occurred, everyone, and I mean everyone, predicted it’s imminent demise. Just about 13 years old now.

Thaksin is a lying sack of shit who ought to be put to death just on general principles.

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Well, I say “pretty far from the action,” but of course it has spread throughout the city. It’s far from the main rally site. I’ve not heard of any Mall Department Store being hit. Hmmm. I wonder what political proclivities the family behind it have. Just asked the wife, and she doesn’t know.

Also, when The Emporium first opened, it was THE place to see a movie. They actually made the theater’s lobby area less nice when they refurbished it a few years ago, I think. I still remember we made sure to see Dark City there, because at the time, it was the only cinema that did NOT Vaseline over the nudity.

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Creeping toward midnight. The Expressway looks deserted again tonight. I’m approaching the end of the Singha beer I purchased today and feeling somewhat maudlin about the Siam Theater. That was our second-favorite place to watch a movie. Owned by the Apex Group, which owned all of the Siam Square cinemas: Siam, Lido and Scala.

The Lido is a three-screen multiplex that does not seem like a multiplex. It opened in the 1990s, and people are generally surprised to learn it’s that new. The Siam and the Scala are grand old movie halls. Although we like the Scala better – and we have heard the Scala suffered some fire damage but hopefully not much – the Siam was still a beautiful old lady.

You can see some good info on the Siam here. No, the photo at the top is not the Siam; that’s the symbol for the website. But the rest is the Siam. It’s difficult to find a good photo of the Siam, as it’s been blocked by the Skytrain since the 1990s. As with all Apex theaters, tickets are 100 baht (US$3). At the Siam and the Scala, seats up in the balcony cost a little more, 120 baht, but we like to sit way down front, to get away from people.

Opened on December 15, 1966 I see from that link. The year after Siam Square itself opened. The first film it showed was Battle of the Bulge (1965), starring Henry Fonda. The wife thinks the first movie she saw there was The Omen (1976), when she was a teenager. Those of you familiar with the place will remember those two goofy escalators, side by side. The skinniest escalators I have ever seen, definitely a single-file operation. The wife says the escalators always looked like that. Not working half the time, too.

Ironically, the last movie we saw there was Remember Me, in March, with its theme of you never know what’s going to happen.

Damn. I think the loss of the Siam Theater is what will really hit me personally. Maybe the wife, too. I raise my last glass of beer of the night to the grand old Siam Theater. clink

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Coincidence! A tribute to the Siam in The Nation: A Farewell to Siam Theater. :frowning:

Goodnight, all.

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I hope MBK is alright. Aside from the open air markets, that is one of my favorite shopping experiences in Bangkok.

Due to lese majeste laws, Sam can not express any unfavorable views about his King.

I’ve been told by my Thai friends here in the US that the King does not get himself involved (i.e. take sides) in politics. However this seems to be something bigger than a political strife. The lives and livelihoods of his subject is at stake here.

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The King has been sick and in hospital since September, I think that’s one of the reasons a certain sort of characters took wing and started circling over the country.
Incidentally, one of the places singled out for burning by a red shirt leader was Siriraj hospital, where HRM is in treatment. You can see it at 3:42 in this video.

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Friday morning, and the situation seems to be calming down. 52 dead in the past week. Probably more to come as the authorities finish mopping up.

I heard some surprising news this morning. Central World may not be quite a total write-off after all. They said while Zen Department Store was a total loss and that part of the building had already collapsed, the cinema and large convention center on upper floors were relatively unscathed. I find that hard to believe after seeing all of the photos, but that’s good news if it’s true. Central Pattana, the retail arm of the Central Group, will spend a week or so assessing the condition of the structure and meet with tenants about future plans. They expect to reopen the building a section at a time as it’s finished. And the department store will be rebuilt.

Looks like people are buying up supplies, same as I witnessed the other evening, especially in the areas close to any conflict, but so far supply has met demand, and there are no shortages reported.

I plan to venture out tomorrow afternoon (Saturday afternoon) to conduct a personal inspection of some of the daytime beer bars. No matter how strongly duty calls, I’ll be sure to make it back home before curfew. It would be a shame to have to spend all night in a bar. Wouldn’t it?

Update here.

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Ah, I just heard Siam Paragon did get a little fire but not much. And 15 males, including an 8-year-old boy, were caught looting inside Siam Discovery Center.

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A little more good news. Almost all Central Department Stores and shopping centers nationwide will be open today (Friday), The exceptions are the one in Chiang Mai, up in the North; and two in Bangkok – Silom Road and the main Chitlom branch on the corner of Chitlom and Ploenchit. (Oh, and of course, Central World won’t be open. :()

With the curfew still starting at 9pm, not sure what time they’ll close. I may wander over to the one by us and take a look.