# There's Rioting in Our Streets, Part 3
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [November 27, 2013, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919 "2013-11-27T15:26:46Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 4
### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/61 "2013-12-08T03:37:47Z")
As we’re awaiting tomorrow’s (Monday’s) so-called “final push,” here’s a good overview of last weekend’s mayhem around Ramkhamhaeng University and those five deaths (death toll was bumped to five): [Students left under siege as day turned to nightmare](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/investigation/383732/students-left-under-siege-as-day-turned-to-nightmare). Quite an eye-opener.
Tuesday’s another holiday – December is a big holiday month in Thailand – so a lot of people have left the city for the long holiday combined with the king’s birthday this past Thursday. (That’s what my wife and her friends took advantage of except they’ll be back tonight.)
Maybe they won’t disrupt traffic so much with the streets emptier.
Tuesday is Constitution Day, commemorating the first constitution back in the 1930s following the 1932 revolution. Now that the country’s on its gazillionth constitution, the holiday’s become a bit of a joke, but it’s stuck, December 10. So this month has the king’s birthday, Constitution Day and New Year’s Eve – unlike in the US (and maybe Europe?), New Year’s Eve is an official holiday along with New Year’s Day in January. Then there’s Christmas, which some companies will recognize as an unofficial company holiday – for example, right off the top of my head I know the _Bangkok Post_ gives paid leave for Christmas if it falls on Monday-Friday. Combine all of that with the relatively cooler weather in December – it can be a mite brisk even at night in Bangkok sometimes, although it’ll heat right back up during the day – and the way they light up all the shopping malls complete with Christmas trees/decorations since New Year’s is a big gift-giving season here, and it’s quite a nice atmosphere. Hope the protesters don’t derail it.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/62 "2013-12-08T04:34:59Z")
Me, too! Thanks for keeping us posted.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 8, 2013, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/63 "2013-12-08T14:07:15Z")
It’s still Sunday, but the crisis has already deepened. The opposition Democrat Party today ordered all of its MPs to resign from parliament en masse, saying they cannot be part of an illegitimate government. It’s the lead story on BBC International.
Travelers leaving Bangkok by air tomorrow are being warned to give themselves four hours to get to the airport in case the roads are disrupted.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/64 "2013-12-09T01:15:39Z")
8:15am Monday and they’re out marching already. I hear many of the street are already clogged. Guess I’ll find out for myself soon enough, as I’ll be out and about today.
The leader Suthep says if today’s push does not topple the government, then he’ll give himself up for arrest. There has been an arrest warrant out for him for some time now. I think the focus will be Government House again, the prime minister’s office. It’s been reinforced since last week. The PM won’t be there, just like she wasn’t last week. And even if they do manage to break through the barricades, it’s hard to see how that will make the government resign. I think the protest leaders are desperately hoping they can trigger army intervention to stage another military coup, but the army seems determined not to accommodate those wishes. They’ve not gotten involved any more than they’ve absolutely had to so far.
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### Author:  [@coremelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/coremelt)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/65 "2013-12-09T01:25:01Z")
Right so the government just ignores the protestors, but agrees to call an early election, which likely the current government will win right?
Then this whole cycle repeats again?
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/66 "2013-12-09T01:28:09Z")
Absolutely correct. It would be great if they could topple the Thaksin group, but they can’t, and so what if they could? The red shirts would just be out again next.
There is only one way this thing will ever end, one way only. And that is with Thaksin’s death. But again, he’s only 64. Again, for years there have been rumors that he’s dying of cancer, but that appears to be just wishful thinking on the part of his detractors. Why someone hasn’t gone and shot that bastard, I’ll never know, but that’s one assassination I could get behind wholeheartedly.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/67 "2013-12-09T02:01:47Z")
BREAKING NEWS coming out right now: The prime minister has just dissolved parliament and will hold elections as soon as possible.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/68 "2013-12-09T02:22:26Z")
Initial reaction from the mob to the dissolving of parliament seems to be that they’re having none of it. They want the prime minister out, period, and her and every other member of her family out forever and a day, preferably with their heads impales on a spike, and that goes double for Thaksin. They’re still going to gather at Government House and maybe storm it.
I’ve got to get busy and go out and about. Wish me luck! If you don’t hear back from me by tonight, it will probably just be I’m stuck in traffic.
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### Author:  [@Shayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shayna)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/69 "2013-12-09T04:19:33Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> BREAKING NEWS coming out right now: The prime minister has just dissolved parliament and will hold elections as soon as possible.
[Thai PM Dissolves Parliament And Calls For Snap Election, But Protestors Aren’t Letting Up](http://www.businessinsider.com/thailand-dissolves-parliament-2013-12)
:eek:
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 9, 2013, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/70 "2013-12-09T16:46:07Z")
Back home. Traffic was not bad. We live in central Bangkok, but again “central Bangkok” covers a vast area, and although central we’re still off the beaten path. Traffic was light around us, helped undoubtedly in no small part by the holiday period.
But I stuck mainly to the Skytrain, our elevated mass transit that is a short taxi hop from our place. I got off the Skytrain in the Siam Square area just in time to see the mob come marching up the street there, Rama I Road. National Police HQ is nearby. The ground-floor restrooms in the shopping malls were suddenly packed with protesters needing to take a leak.
Met the wife in that area in the afternoon. She’d been out blowing her whistle among the mob along with much of her office. Then we watched a movie – [The World’s End](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213663/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt), which I highly recommend – after which we went and picked up our usual Christmas goodies at Villa Supermarket and headed home. In a post on the first page of this thread, I mentioned [Spider-Man’s participation](http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/382829/spiderman-teams-up-with-protesters). The wife saw him out among the mob today. He’s very popular, and all the protesters want their picture taken with him. And then when we got on the Skytrain at Siam Station to head to Villa Supermarket, Spider-Man got on too! He rode in the same car as we did. Guess he ran out of web fluid.
But the protests [will continue](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/383957/pm-dissolves-house-but-anti-thaksin-protest-continues). Sure, the prime minister has dissolved parliament, but she’s still prime minister, and she’s going to run in the new election. And she’ll win, of course. The protesters want her entire family out, nothing less will do. She’s promised elections “as soon as possible.” By law, they must be held within 60 days of parliament’s dissolution, but I think they’ll be quite soon. She has nothing to lose by holding them immediately and nothing to gain by dragging her feet.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/71 "2013-12-10T02:08:49Z")
The elections have been scheduled for February 2. The fact that they will be held on Groundhog Day is uncannily appropriate and amuses me greatly. [Suthep is still yammering away](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/384011/dissolution-fails-to-end-protest) – only to be expected, I guess – but I expect today’s holiday will be quiet in general.
There’s something similar going on in Kiev that is also garnering heavy BBC attention, and whenever the Beeb starts off talking about protesters now, I don’t know if the story is going to be Ukraine or Thailand. Looks like those other guys are covered in snow. I told the wife at least here they’ll stay warm.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/72 "2013-12-10T04:29:00Z")
Wow. What a political merry-go-round. We appreciate the updates!
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/73 "2013-12-10T05:12:15Z")
Never boring. Never boring.
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### Author:  [@santorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/santorum)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/74 "2013-12-10T05:12:38Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> Back home. Traffic was not bad. We live in central Bangkok, but again “central Bangkok” covers a vast area, and although central we’re still off the beaten path. Traffic was light around us, helped undoubtedly in no small part by the holiday period.
>
> But I stuck mainly to the Skytrain, our elevated mass transit that is a short taxi hop from our place. I got off the Skytrain in the Siam Square area just in time to see the mob come marching up the street there, Rama I Road. National Police HQ is nearby. The ground-floor restrooms in the shopping malls were suddenly packed with protesters needing to take a leak.
>
> Met the wife in that area in the afternoon. She’d been out blowing her whistle among the mob along with much of her office. Then we watched a movie – [The World’s End](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1213663/?ref_=ttfc_fc_tt), which I highly recommend – after which we went and picked up our usual Christmas goodies at Villa Supermarket and headed home. In a post on the first page of this thread, I mentioned [Spider-Man’s participation](http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/382829/spiderman-teams-up-with-protesters). The wife saw him out among the mob today. He’s very popular, and all the protesters want their picture taken with him. And then when we got on the Skytrain at Siam Station to head to Villa Supermarket, Spider-Man got on too! He rode in the same car as we did. Guess he ran out of web fluid.
>
> But the protests [will continue](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/383957/pm-dissolves-house-but-anti-thaksin-protest-continues). Sure, the prime minister has dissolved parliament, but she’s still prime minister, and she’s going to run in the new election. And she’ll win, of course. The protesters want her entire family out, nothing less will do. She’s promised elections “as soon as possible.” By law, they must be held within 60 days of parliament’s dissolution, but I think they’ll be quite soon. She has nothing to lose by holding them immediately and nothing to gain by dragging her feet.
And who was PM when the Skytrain started operating?
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTS\_Skytrain](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BTS_Skytrain)
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/75 "2013-12-10T05:18:34Z")
Well, not Thaksin. The Skytrain officially kicked off on the king’s birthday in 1999, fourteen years ago last Thursday. Thaksin became prime minister in early 2001, close to the time of George W. Bush.
The prime minister at the time was [Chuan Leekpai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuan_Leekpai), the Grand Old Man of the Democrat Party. He had two turns as prime minister, from 1992-95 and 1997-2001.
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### Author:  [@santorum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/santorum)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/76 "2013-12-10T05:46:16Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#):
>
> Well, not Thaksin. The Skytrain officially kicked off on the king’s birthday in 1999, fourteen years ago last Thursday. Thaksin became prime minister in early 2001, close to the time of George W. Bush.
>
> The prime minister at the time was [Chuan Leekpai](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuan_Leekpai), the Grand Old Man of the Democrat Party. He had two turns as prime minister, from 1992-95 and 1997-2001.
Fair enough. From the article:
> [@](#):
>
> Chuan was elected in 1992 after the abortive coup by General Suchinda Kraprayoon, thus becoming Thailand’s first prime minister to come to power without either aristocratic or military backing.
:eek:
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 10, 2013, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/77 "2013-12-10T13:48:45Z")
Oh joy! Many ruling-party candidates in the election will be ones [just coming off a five-year ban from politics](http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/384116/old-faces-back-from-political-ban-to-contest-seats) for electoral fraud. Good to have those good ol’ boys back! :rolleyes:
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/78 "2013-12-12T05:46:59Z")
Today the protesters have [cut and removed the razor-wire barricades protecting Government House](http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/384461/students-take-down-razor-wire-barriers-at-govt-house) after police let pass a deadline to dismantle them themselves and withdraw. The situation may be heating up again.
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### Author:  [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/79 "2013-12-12T08:42:05Z")
And now the protesters have [cut off the electricity to Government House](http://www.bangkokpost.com/breakingnews/384480/protesters-cut-power-to-government-house) in a bid to get the police to leave. And the water too.
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### Author:  [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)
#### Post date: [December 12, 2013, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/theres-rioting-in-our-streets-part-3/674919/80 "2013-12-12T14:50:19Z")
I am amazed the protestors are getting away with so much. Either reach a political settlement with them, or send in the riot police and prosecute them to the fullest extent of the law. This neither-fish-nor-fowl, wishy-washy policy of the government just seems dumb.
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