There's Rioting in Our Streets, Part 3

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
21

We’ve had our first death. One of those shot died. Maybe 10 others wounded but it’s not clear how many of those were shot. One of the wounded who was shot was a 29-year-old Cambodian worker who was just an innocent bystander. Quite likely here illegally too and so will be sent back on top of being shot.

Here’s a short video of an attack on a bus containing red shirts. Two on board were reportedly beaten badly. That’s not a bus chartered to come from upcountry but rather your regular non-air-conditioned Bangkok city bus. May still have been hired to carry them locally, dunno. But again, where this occurred, where the red shirts are gathering, is in what’s called the Ramkhamhaeng area, way the hell out on the eastern edge. Your average tourist would not be stumbling on this.

Some of the anti-government protesters – normally I’d call them yellow shirts, but not that many are wearing yellow shirts this time from what I can tell – are near tourist areas such as Democracy Monument and the zoo, but they’re still pretty peaceful.

The zoo is near parliament and the PM’s office, and the protesters have named it as a target for closure. That really gripes me too. Leave the animals out of it. During past troubles when the zoo was shut down, one zoo worker who was in there just doing his job of feeding the animals and such ended up dead by a gunshot. I just hope the animals are allowed to be tended to. and I hope none end up being someone’s snack! Always a possibility here.

It’s Sunday morning and today’s the day the anti-government protesters have vowed to seize the prime minister’s office and more ministries.

22

Yes, I see now from other photos that the route number of the bus has been covered up, so it was rented from the city specifically to ferry red shirts. But don’t read anything political in that, as the governor of Bangkok belongs to the opposition Democrat Party. (Bangkok is a big Democrat stronghold.)

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Thanks for the reports Siam Sam, please keep them coming. I’m arriving in Bangkok Dec 11th and will be based there for several months for some business. Keeping an eye on the situation but still plan to be there.

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Don’t worry too much about the situation. I’m sure you’ll be fine. People never understand just how big Bangkok is. Makes NYC look like Mayberry. It (usually) absorbs these things quite nicely.

I see the red shirts have ended their rally and told their supporters to return home now that violence has broken out. This after they vowed to stay here until the end come what may.

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I’m not too worried, both sides seem to be trying very hard to avoid bloodshed so far. From what I understand, getting around might be considerably more difficult for a while.

Was the sky train and metros still safe to travel to and from Sukhimvit area last time things were bad?

26

They must not have been paid enough.

Pics of the bus attack here.

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Troops from the King’s Bodyguard (the 11th Infantry Regiment of the Royal Guard) have escorted besieged students, provided with bullet-proof vests, from Ramkhamhaeng University after two of them were killed by pro-Thaksin Red-shirt terrorists and another 54 wounded. It is interesting that this task was performed by troops with loyalty specific to the King, rather than the regular army.

Professors and university students tend to have more informed and progressive views than a general populace. I wish foreign media would consider this rather than repeating the much too simplistic “elite vs rural poor” cliché that ignorant reporters confuse American news watchers with.

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Sunday night and it’s been an eventful day. The protesters did try to take Government House, the prime minister’s office, only to find the police had fortified the place. The police then began firing tear gas and water cannons, and the protesters failed in their objective. But other groups were able to occupy the Public Relations Department and the Interior Ministry elsewhere.

The death toll is now up to three, I think all from the shootings last night over in the Ramkhamhaeng area in eastern Bangkok.

In that link in the first paragraph of this post, the bottom photo in the story shows the mob in the street underneath Siam Skytrain Station today. The wife and I happened to be there and saw them for ourselves. Royal Thai Police HQ is just down the street, and that was the focus of that group, although they did not try to storm it. They just hung out in the street, yelled bad things and made speeches. The wife and I were very surprised to see the major shopping malls Siam Paragon, Siam Center and Siam Discovery, all lined up in a row by Siam Station, completely shut down today. Those are major shopping venues and tourist magnets. Siam Paragon used to be the largest shopping center in Thailand and possibly Southeast Asia. But it lost that title when they rebuilt Central World nearby. Central World was completely gutted during the riots and fires of 2010. It was already big, but when they rebuilt it, they made it even larger than Siam Paragon. We didn’t go down the street far enough to see if it was closed too and could not tell as we passed it on the Skytrain. I’m guessing it was probably open since the main cross street it fronts looked like it was still open. But management closing those other three malls on a weekend afternoon is a serious move. They really must have been worried the situation could spiral out of control, and this will put even more pressure on the government. That’s a lot of money lost today. Don’t know if the poor staff will get paid for the day either, but knowing cheap-ass Thai businessmen like I do, it would be no surprise if they didn’t. We saw clueless tourists wandering around in a daze asking security guards outside these places why they were closed.

Nearby MBK Center, itself pretty huge – it was the largest back in the 1980s – was open today, but we noticed many if not most of the gold and jewelry shops inside were closed. Looks like they were taking no chances of a repeat of 2010 (although even back then, MBK emerged unscathed).

Eight universities have announced they will be closed tomorrow (Monday). The wife’s office will be closed. Not only that, but I have mentioned elsewhere on this Board that the wife is a government researcher. She was scheduled to go to a secondary school tomorrow to collect data for a study she’s doing on new media and the young generation. The school is over in the Ramkhamhaeng area close to last night’s shootings, and it’s going to be closed also. So the wife has to stay home tomorrow and doesn’t know when she can collect her data.

Meanwhile, protest leader Suthep and Prime Minister Yingluck held a meeting just 2-1/2 hours ago. All armed-forces leaders were present at the meeting too. Sounds like progress, you say? Well … not quite. Suthep just announced to crowds of protesters that at the meeting, he gave the prime minister a deadline of two days to get out, or else. Or else what? That’s not clear. But he said that will be the last meeting with the PM.

Looks like activity is spreading upcountry too.

coremelt asked about the Skytrain and subway during previous troubles. In 2010, service on both was stopped for days and the stations closed. Not only that, but snipers – they’re pretty sure they were army, but no one’s really been able to ID them definitively – used the Skytrain tracks over Pathum Wanaram Temple next to Siam Paragon as a vantage point to fire into the crowd taking refuge in the temple grounds, killing many.

I don’t think this crowd will start burning the city, that’s the red shirts’ shtick, so I don’t foresee any Skytrain or subway closings. Hope I’m not wrong!

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Hong Kong’s South China Morning Post has a good profile of Thai protest leader Suthep.

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Any Bangkokians experiencing Internet connectivity problems? I’ve had problems upcountry the past two days. Initially I blamed my provider, Mamma-Pappa Fly-by-Night Wifi, but some reports suggest I’m lucky! Provider backbones are being sabotaged, but Fly-by-Night advertises that it has access to three different providers!

Regarding Suthep biography, I don’t play personality politics but the bio is misleading.

[1] I’ve seen Thai democracy in action first-hand. Most rural voters know Parliament candidates only second-hand, but at the grassroots level, voters choose village headmen and other local officials, and even hold democratic village meetings. Thus I was appalled when Thaksin proposed that he should appoint local officials “because democracy doesn’t work at the local level”. :smack: (Translation: centralized vote buying would be more difficult in local elections.)

[2] Corruption is endemic among political figures. I remember when Thaksin, then Deputy Prime Minister in Charge of Fixing Bangkok’s Traffic Jam, went on TV about 15 years ago, literally in tears, after it was revealed he’d awarded a big contract to his own company. His excuse? “Someone as rich as me can’t keep track of where every nickel and dime is invested.”

[3] One insight rural Thais share with world economists is knowing that rural farm-owners need land deeds. My wife is still waiting for a deed to her land, after decades. The Democratic Party is the only party that ever had a serious plan to provide land deeds generally and it led to the corrupt opposition parties bringing down their government over the issue. And, yes, one reason landowners want land deeds is so they have the right to sell to “wealthy families” when that makes sense for them.

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Monday morning and not much going on yet. All sorts of rumors were swirling yesterday. One was that the prime minister was flying to South Africa to seek asylum. Turns out the real story was she had a previously scheduled official trip to South Africa that she had canceled to stay here. Would not have made any sense anyway. The police lob a few tear-gas canisters and she flees to South Africa? Give me a break. Wishful thinking abounds.

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With nothing new going on, the morning news programs are rehashing yesterdays’ events. Seems also the students of Ramkhamhaeng University were trapped on the school grounds by the red shirts. Ramkhamhaeng U is in the Ramkhamhaeng area (naturally) and named for King Ramkhamhaeng, a 13th-century ruler of the old Sukhothai kingdom up North. The red shirts at the nearby red-shirt rally had done something involving that king’s image that offended the students, many of whom began agitating against the red shirts. The campus was blocked by the red shirts and the students trapped inside. The red shirts even started firing into the campus, and at least some of the deaths were students stemming from those shootings. Not a policeman in sight. Soldiers, troops from the present king’s own Guard, finally arrived to escort the students out yesterday.

The police are being raked over the coals for this. The rector of the university said when the red shirts started gathering, he asked the police for assurances of protection and were given promises that the campus would be guarded. But while the campus was under siege, the police were all busy escorting the red shirts as they were leaving the rally site, and leaving the city for those who came from outside.

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The protest rally a short wile ago announced today’s targets will be the Metropolitan Police Bureau, Government House (where they were beaten back from yesterday) and parliament. Other state offices could be hit later today too,

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Sam, I understand that the opposition is calling for a general strike? How widely is it being observed today? Your wife’s government office is closed today, what about ordinary small businesses?

Seems like it all has to play out one way or another this week with both the opposition ultimatum and the Kings birthday on thursday… stay safe.

35

I was out and about a little today already in central Bangkok. About noon time. It doesn’t look like businesses are going along with any strike, which isn’t surprising. But with all the schools and government offices closed, traffic was a dream!

BBC TV is reporting there’s some small-scale violence around Government House. Some protesters have been throwing small, homemade explosives at the police – yeah, guys, that’ll work, I’m sure – and the police have been firing a few rounds of rubber bullets. But the government’s line for now still seems to be to hold the line and not provoke worse violence.

36

Well, looks like the wife’s office is going to be closed Tuesday and Wednesday as well, for safety reasons. The location itself seems secure, but they’re worried about people having to travel through danger zones. So the wife essentially has the whole week off, because Thursday is a holiday (king’s birthday). Friday is not a holiday, but she’s already scheduled that day for leave, because on Thursday she’s traveling up to the North with her niece and some of her old school chums. (I’ll be staying here for some quality bar time.)

Now the protesters are threatening to spray feces on any police using tear gas. They claim they have “fecal suction trucks” that can shoot that shit at police hiding behind barricades. This could get really messy, folks. Personally, if it were me getting shit sprayed on him, I don’t care which side you’re on, that’s when I would start shooting to kill.

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So they’re bringing the shit, and I’m sure the government will supply the fans.

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Stay safe over there Sam.

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The wife’s office may be closed through Wednesday, but it looks like the school she was supposed to collect data from today will be open tomorrow. So she’ll go there and try to get that done.

Many universities are closed for the week or most of the week, but Bangkok University has announced it will be closed until January 3. They’re just saying, “Screw this!”

And even Spider-Man is getting into the act.

40

Almost 100 injured on Monday at four different locations. But at least no one started throwing shit yet.

A friend of the wife’s lives near the Government Complex, which has been occupied since last week, in northern Bangkok and told her this morning (Tuesday morning) that she heard gunshots and what sounded like firecrackers sporadically through the night and finally sirens. Doubtful it would be police responding, so maybe an ambulance. No reports are coming out of there.