Helicopters are dropping leaflets on the protesters warning them to leave. We’re not near any of the protest sites, but we have heard a few helicopters these past couple of days. I’m wondering if authorities are going to try to put a decisive end to this before Thursday’s festivities for the king’s birthday.
Odd but now the police are saying they’ll remove the barricades in front of the Metropolitan Police Bureau – but not Government House, mind you – and that the protesters are welcome to go in and hang around as long as they like. This was the scene of a lot of fighting yesterday. I wonder if the feces threat did them in.
Excerpt: “If protesters want to seize or burn the building, they should be allowed to.”
I just read the police chief said he’d rather the protesters were safe, even if he loses face by his actions!
Don’t be fooled by that. He’ll have permission from the higher-ups regardless of what he says publicly.
And this seems to be a stroke of genius on the part of the government. The protesters are desperate to force a violent confrontation, and the government is simply not accommodating them.
Latest update here.
Top military brass to meet after Dec 5. They’ll meet to figure out exactly what to do with these protesters. December 5 is Thursday, the king’s birthday. There is no doubt in my mind that this sudden lovefest on the part of police is a bid to keep this thing on the back burner until after the holiday.
Wow Sam, gripping stuff. Thanks for sharing.
I appreciate your “just the facts” reporting, but feel free to work in even more of your opinion on things if you’d like. I would appreciate hearing your point of view on each day’s activities. What your hopes and worries are, etc.
Well, there’s not much point of view to tell. I’m definitely anti-Thaksin, anti-Yingluck and anti-this government. Imagine if Al Capone had become President of the United States. Well, that’s pretty much how it was with Thaksin becoming prime minister of Thailand. He’s just a lowlife gangster, albeit an extremely wealthy one. A dollar billionaire. He’s been on the boards of some international companies with the likes of George Bush Sr. and others. A powerful man. Hubris is what brought him down. He thought he was big enough to control the Thai military, and they pointed out the error of his ways.
And while I am usually in favor of the Democrat Party, or at least more in favor of them than of the others, Suthep himself is just a Thaksin wannabe. Suthep is hardly the man to be leading this.
But these protesters are just making asses of themselves in my opinion. Really, I would have liked to have seen the military keep control much longer after the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.
An interesting fact is he and Thaksin were born just about three weeks apart in July 1949. Suthep down South in early July, Thaksin up North in late July. They’re both 64 years old.
Meanwhile, the protesters are declaring a big victory in the wake of the Metropolitan Police Bureau HQ opening up. Yeah, we’ll see how big a victory it still is after Thursday.
And traffic was still good today. 
The Beloved King’s birthday requires cleaning and tidying of streets and parks, lots of bunting, and decorations as well.
Leave it to the Thais, they’ve decorated the razor wire,around some of the barricaded places, with pretty little ribbons!
So they have let them into the Government House compound too, but I think soldiers are still blocking entrances to the buildings themselves, not sure. I expect it will all be pretty quiet now until at least Friday.
Those shopping-center closures. I found out the big Central World was closed in addition to those other three, and it was a three-day closure, Saturday-Monday. They all just reopened today. That really is amazing. Word is the staff aren’t getting paid for the enforced days off, but that’s hardly surprising.
Still calmed down to a large extent, but this morning (Wednesday morning) protesters “marched by vehicles” – which I would term “drove,” but that’s just me – to national police HQ. Small blurb here. This is the national police aka the Royal Thai Police, NOT the city police aka the Metropolitan Police Bureau, the latter of which are the ones who opened their gates yesterday. I expect this will be like the wife and I saw on Sunday, just some yelling and thinking bad thoughts. Waiting to see what happens come Friday.
And traffic is back to bad. I was out and about this morning in central Bangkok. Could be a knock-on effect from the move on the national police, as they’re in central Bangkok too.
Thanks for keeping us posted, Siam Sam. Keep your eyes open and stay safe!
Thanks. Will do. 
While the wife is up North this long holiday weekend, I shall do a personal inspection tour of some of the bars, to make sure everyone is staying calm.
As expected, it was rather low key compared with recent days. The protesters were allowed onto the grounds – but not inside buildings – in a symbolic occupation. They handed a letter to the national police chief. They left.
Thursday moning, still not much happening. But an Underwear Hero has emerged. Oh, what the boys in the trenches must endure. It’s inhuman, I say. But at least he’ll get free lifetime concert tickets to some mediocre “famous” singer if he ever steps forward.
Linky no worky.
The article seems to have been censored, and looks like there’s no google cache results for bangkok post. But some of the images still turn up in google image search. Here’s a few:
http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1473/5747827/15966180/408277151.jpg
Hmmm. The Bangkok Post seems to have taken the story down. May have received some complaints. The guy’s not exactly an underwear model. Thanks, Patty.
The king addressed the nation today on the occasion of his 86th birthday and urged all sides to work together for the good of the country. Pfft. We’ll see how long that lasts. My money is on midnight tonight.
Just saw this on LiveLeak.com… a drone view of protests - ItemFix - Social Video Factory
Is this for real?
Yes, I believe that’s real. 2bangkok.com has a series of those too.
They say they’ll “blow the final whistle” come Monday to topple the government. But then, this is not their first D-Day.