The protesters took to the streets again today (Friday), but they were more orderly this time. They gathered at the entrance to Lumpini Park in central Bangkok and marched down Silom and Suriwong roads, in the Patpong area. There was an almost-total absence of police this time, and everything went off peacefully.
Specifically, they were protesting Somchai’s continued refusal to resign even after the army commander, flanked by the chiefs of all of the armed forces and the supreme commander, appeared on television last night to say that while they wouldn’t stage a coup, Somchai really ought to resign. That was rather unprecedented, but the prime minister’s having none of it.
And that Thai Airways pilot who refused to fly with MPs from the ruling party on board got demoted.
Things may heat up today (Monday). The anti-government PAD parked five sound trucks in front of CentralWorld shopping mall in central Bangkok and are marching down Wireless Road, I think right now. Last Friday’s demonstraion and march in central Bangkok attracted tens of thousands of people. That one was peaceful, but there’s always the chance that violence will be sparked. That’s especially true since a police official over the weekend renewed a threat to take back Government House this week.
Monday’s demonstration remained peaceful, but fiery rhetoric remains. And the Supreme Administrative Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders yesterday (Tuesday) convicted ousted PM Thaksin, who is currently in exile in London, of corruption in a land-fraud case that allowed his wife to buy a plot in central Bangkok at a “special” price. He was sentenced to two years in prison. Amazingly, his wife was found not guilty in the same case, but she’s already under sentence of three years in prison for a separate tax-evasion case. Other cases are pending. This will all add fuel to the anti-government protesters’ fire.
Someone did throw a small makeshift bomb into the compound of the home of the Supreme Administrative Court’s president at 1am yesterday. He and his family were away in Egypt, though.
That police official backed off from his remarks that Government House would be retaken today, but something’s clearly going to have to happen in the near future.
And here is a warning from the Danish ambassador. He does not discourage travel to Thailand but points out that while everything may look normal on the surface, a lot is happening underneath. Mainly, avoid government buildings.
Still a tense stand-off. The protesters remain in control of Government House. There’s a big demonstration scheduled for today in front of the British Embassy to demand they hand back that snake, Thaksin. Then they’ll march to Siam Paragon shopping center for some obscure reason.
But ominously, 10 PAD people were injured in a grenade attack in the wee hours of this morning. Gunfire was heard. Someone was found dead near Metropolitan Police HQ. Story here.
Tensions are rising, and something’s got to give soon. The government is operating out of a dingy old VIP room at the old airport.
There’s a construction site next to our apartment building in the direction of Witthayu/Wireless Road (well, lots of construction really, this is Lower Sukhumvit after all) and I admit I jump a little each time I hear a “bang” from that direction. Not that I’m really worried, but the protestors have been inching closer to our area over the last few weeks.
They were supposed to march from the British Embassy down to the Emporium shopping center today, along Sukhumvit. I was planning to go down to the Siam Society to do some research (it’s down Sukhumvit from us a little ways) but decided that holing up at home was probably a better idea for this afternoon. Given that I’m in that stage of living-overseas “culture shock” where I have to force myself to leave the house (I’ve been here about 9 months now), the PAD certainly isn’t making things any easier!
We are off to Krabi this weekend on a spur-of-the-moment trip, to relax at a resort owned by one of my friends, and we’re looking forward to getting away for a bit.
(ETA: What Ale said. I’m not meaning to denigrate the real heartache this is causing a lot of people in Thailand by focusing on my own minor inconveniences; I just thought a snippet from someone living in the fairly close vicinity of all this might be interesting to other Dopers. It is rather remarkable how little all of this-- with the exception of the airport/transportation issues a while back-- would affect the average tourist here in Bangkok…)
The US Embassy e-mailing said they were going to Siam Paragon after the British Embassy rally, which would be away from you. But both shopping centers – Siam Paragon and The Emporium – are owned by the same people, so there could have been a message mix up. Keep on the look-out!
Yeah, I saw nothing from here (no surprise-- I can see Ploenchit BTS station from our 21st-floor apartment, but nothing of Sukhumvit Road really at all).
The last I heard was it was both! They started at Siam Paragon, then stopped off at the British Embassy, then proceeded to The Emporium, where they handed out VCDs about the “injustice of the October 7 violence.” My question is: Why don’t they hand out VCDs about what a bunch of creepy assholes they are?
The guy who was found dead by Metropolitan Police HQ: That’s near Government House, and it turns out the guy had gotten drunk and went mouthing off at the protesters, and some of them shot him.
I felt the need to do a personal inspection of the live lesbian sex shows last night, just to make sure those haven’t been affected by the situation yet. I’m pleased to report they haven’t been affected yet. (And in honor of Halloween tonight, the girls in at least one bar, Long Gun Bar in Soi Cowboy, have been dressing up in sexy witch costumes. Also, during the live-body-paint segment of the show in Suzie Wong, the artist painted one girl up in a Day-Glo skeleton motif. It’s black light in there, and so it shone up really well, and she was running around scaring the bejesus out of all the other girls, who, being a superstitious lot to begin with, really got creeped out by that.)
At this point, I think the lynchpin of the entire conflict down there is a game of attrition: the faction that fucks up the schedule of the live lesbian sex shows first, lose. Then it’d be to pull the pin and proceed straight to the lynching.
So, on Saturday there was a huge pro-government rally at a stadium in Bangkok, which was addressed live by telephone from Hong Kong by deposed fugitive-from-justice Thaksin himself. One television network reported that quite a few in the crowd seemed to have been paid to attend, a charge that is almost certainly true, given Thaksin’s past history of paying attendees. But a group of pro-government supporters have taken over the local office of that network up North in Chiang Mai, demanding an apology for such a slander. They say they won’t leave until said apology is forthcoming. See here.
Personally, I’m not sure it would be such a bad idea to have the pro- and anti-government forces brawl it out some fine afternoon. Might at least get rid of at least one pesky group, no matter who won.
Unbelievably, the network director DID apologize to the group, and the protesters left the building. But then they became irked at the apology itself, saying if the director did not apologize again using a pre-agreed script, which he had neglected to do, they would reoccupy the building! Then sudenly they changed their minds and said they would not reoccupy the building. Oddly, they kept emphasizing that it was their own decosion and not orders from anyone. Hmmm.
There were also some bombs that went off in our deep South, injuring 60+, but that’s just part of the regular insurgency down there that’s been raging for almost five years now.
A bit of good news today (Saturday). Deposed PM Thaksin and his wife have had their visas cancelled by the UK. They were in Hong Kong last weekend, from where he addressed about 50,000 of his supporters here in Bangkok by telephone. All airlines have been advised not to allow them on board any flights to the UK. Story here. They’re both on the lam from prison sentences – two years so far for him and three for her, and more cases coming up for trial. Slowly but surely, they’re tightening the noose around that bastard, hehehe. They were believed to be in transit from China to the Philippines yesterday.
A bit of odd news, too. Not only are the anti-government protesters still in control of Government House after 2-1/2 months now, but we have a public cremation coming up for a member of the royal family, and the protesters say they refuse to open an adjacent street they have command of that the king and other members of the royal family would normally use to get to the site. That’s pretty serious here. The protesters are saying if they opened the road, they would be vulnerable to possible attack and that the police have prepared optional routes for the royal family anyway. Still, it is almost impossible for someone unfamiliar with Thailand to imagine exactly the degree of arrogance that this entails for a Thai to do this; they certainly aren’t going to win any points among the people by refusing to accommodate the royal family.
Latest word on Thaksin is that he’s building a 300-million-baht (US$8.57 million) mansion in China. That’s probably where he’ll end up. He lived there already for a short while after his overthrow a couple of years ago. Not much chance of China canceling his visa.
For some odd reason, the Bahamas have given him and his wife honorary citizenship, so even if Thailand pulled their passports, they could probably travel on Bahamian ones.
There’s no indication that it’s related to the political strife, but early this morning a bomb was tossed into a group of vendors protesting a rent hike at a government-owned market in the Klong Toey slum, our largest. Story here. Thirteen injured.
As for the actual political strife, I’ve heard the PAD have relented and will open that street for easier access to the royal cremation after all.
They were in Hong Kong last weekend, from where he addressed about 50,000 of his supporters here in Bangkok by telephone. All airlines have been advised not to allow them on board any flights to the UK. Story