I’m assuming you’d be allowed (required?) to sell the land, but I don’t really know.
It’s ratcheted up a little this morning (Thursday morning), with police using tear gas on protesters still trying to block the Thai-Japanese sports complex, site of candidate registration for the February 2 election. (I believe the complex received Japanese funding, thus the name.) Story here. Four police injured.
And during the night, more than 20 shots were fired at the home in Trang province down South of one of the protest leaders. (The South is a Democrat stronghold. Suthep, the main leader, is himself from the South.)
The protesters are now marching to the prime minister’s house again.
Thursday night and it’s been quite a day. It really did devolve into rioting at that sports complex, which is in north-central Bangkok. I mentioned the tear gas. There were rubber bullets too. Dozens of protesters injuered, but most importantly a policeman was shot dead. That’s going to ratchet up the violence now, as you can expect the cops to wreak some vengeance. Already I saw live coverage of about 10 cops in riot gear using their batons to beat the holy bejesus out of a car that had some people inside. Dunno what happened to the people inside. I shudder to think.
The protesters also closed off a major thoroughfare, Vibhavadi Rangsit Road, which leads out to Bangkok’s domestic Don Mueang Airport in northern Bangkok.
The independent Election Commission today recommended an indefinite delay to the February 2 election, but the government has rejected that.
There’s been a shakeup of top police officials in the district where the prime minister lives. No doubt that’s related to the protest and may be a prelude to putting in people with more of a “shoot-to-kill” mentality.
Rumors of an imminent military coup are rife.
Sam,
Be careful, keep you and yours safe. I hope things calm down soon.
Capt
Yes Sam, watch your ass.
Are these fellows prone to the fenestration of foreigners during a coup?
Nah, coups are largely civil affairs here. I keep hoping for one actually. Until that bastard Thaksin is dead, there will be no end to this problem, so the military may as well rule. I have always thought the military gave up power too quickly after the 2006 coup.
:dubious:
Bangkok - Population: 6.355 million
New York City - Population: 8.337 million
That’s an outdated figure they’ve been using since at least the 1980s. And anyway, population is figured by legal residents. The countless laborers and others who have moved here from upcountry aren’t included in those figures. Conservative estimates peg Bangkok at 10 million, with 12 million probably more realistic.
Wikipedia puts Bangkok city at 8.28 million (which I think still a bit low) and Greater Bangkok at about 14-1/2 million, maybe about right.
If we go with 8.28 million, Bangkok and NYC are the same size. I am sure NYC also has its share of undocumented people who were not counted in the census.
I don’t know anyone, including government officials (such as my wife, who is a statistician civil servant) who believes Bangkok is only 8 million. 10-12 million is the accepted figure.
Thanks for your highjack though. Now back to the rioting.
The injury count from today’s rioting is up to 96 now. I’m not clear if that includes the injured police officers, whose number has dropped to three from four earlier. One of the three is the one who died.
What is a “ping pong bomb”?
I believe it’s small amount of explosive packed inside a Ping-Pong ball for ease of throwing. It’s a specialty here of vocational-school students, who are forever fighting with students of rival schools.
Friday morning and I’ve not heard of anything going on yet in the streets today. But Election Commission members are threatening to resign in response to the prime minister’s rejection of yesterday’s EC call to postpone the February 2 election indefinitely. I think that could cancel the election by default, as I believe they’re the independent body in charge of elections.
Plus all sorts of rumors continue to circulate – military coup, martial law for Bangkok. Whatever goes on today will probably play a large part in deciding what happens.
Overview of yesterday’s shenanigans here.
This is from yesterday’s (Thursday’s) activity, but there’s video of a taxi driver being pulled out of his cab and beaten senseless after complaining about the protesters closing that thoroughfare I mentioned.
Why is there an objection to elections? Do they fear they are rigged?
It’s complicated. Elections are always rigged here, with vote buying and all sorts of shenanigans, it just depends on who can rig them better, but it’s clear the ruling party would win even a fair election. But they’re a bunch of crooks, even more so than most Thai politicians, and they’re bankrupting the country. I compared Thaksin before with Al Capone, and it’s an apt comparison.
Seriously, if Thaksin were to die, this would all be resolved almost overnight. No one is going to follow anyone in his family without him. He really does still rule the country now through his sister prime minister, who is just his proxy, no one has any illusions otherwise. Top officials travel to various places to meet with him in person and receive orders, he chooses the cabinet lineups, he tells his sister what she will and will not do. Then there are the supposed royal ambitions of Thaksin himself, which I would rather not get into here, but that angers many too.
And Thursday’s toll is now 1 dead, 143 injured.
Make that two dead. A protester died this morning from his injuries, another gunshot.
Relatively calm today (Friday), but rank-and-file police are not happy. There were lots of photos of some police beating protesters yesterday, but police were on the receiving end as well, maybe getting the worst of it. They’re under orders to keep violent responses to a minimum, and reports are demoralization is rife, particularly since one of their own was shot dead. One group of cops that was surrounded by protesters during Thursdays’ rioting had to flee into some nearby apartment blocks and then change into civvies to save themselves. And the lower ranks have been using the Line app to vent their anger and blast their bosses for a lack of leadership and tying their hands in the face of violent provocation.
Top ruling-party officials including at least one deputy prime minister have expressed the sentiment that a military coup would be preferable to rule by people like these protesters. The army chief has refused to rule out the possibility of a coup. And the protest leader, Suthep, has told protesters to take a New Year’s break, so maybe it will be quiet for a few days.