Teenagers, from witnesses accounts. Now, where does a kid that can’t buy a beer get a grenade launcher? :rolleyes:
On related news some blowhard general got Thaied for saying, among other things:
They sent him to teach aerobics at parks,, perfectly reasonable disciplinary action, isn’t it?.
Is it just me or the guy sounds like a 5 year old doing an over the top Rambo impersonation?
Yeah, I chuckled over Rambo’s aerobics assignment myself. 
They pretty much all sound that way, though. He committed the sin of doing it too publicly. Doesn’t seem like he plans to stop either.
Sunday morning now, and it’s looking grim. Stories here and here. The PAD earlier said they planned to mobilize 100,000 people from the South alone. A good way to stay far from the venues.
This is pretty good, too.
The state unions have announced (again) that they will paralyze the country or something if the government does not resign by Tuesday. Halt transportation, cut off utilities. Not clear if the utility cuts are only for government buildings, but that’s usually the threat. They’ve said this before, though, and failed to follow through.
The US Embassy sent out the following message yesterday:
"On Sunday, November 23, 2008, the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) plans to march from Government House to the Parliament building beginning at 14:00. The PAD is calling for its largest gathering to date in response to the November 20 explosion at Government House which resulted in one death and over 20 people injured. The march to the Parliament building is expected to continue throughout the day on Sunday culminating with the PAD protestors surrounding the premises in anticipation of a parliamentary session on Monday. The PAD has announced they will remain at the Parliament building through at least Tuesday, November 25. The Parliament building is located near the Dusit Zoo and the Anantha Samakhom Throne Hall.
"We remind American citizens to exercise caution if you are going to be in this vicinity or in the area of any demonstrations, as the possibility for violence remains high. The Royal Thai Police (RTP) are expected to maintain a large presence at all demonstration sites and it is likely that they will declare these sites “security-zones,” thereby granting them the authority to use force against the protesters should they deem it necessary and appropriate.
“We wish to remind American citizens that even demonstrations intended to be peaceful can turn confrontational and possibly escalate into violence. American citizens are therefore urged to avoid the areas of demonstrations if possible, and to exercise caution if within the vicinity of any demonstrations.”
There’s also this, which says the military is deploying at 14 locations near six intersections today. The government has been steadfast throughout about not declaring any sort of state of emergency; dunno, maybe they’re right about it only exacerbating the trouble, because they really would have to move in and forcibly clear everyone out.
Man, if some sort of ass-kicking is NOT in the offing today, it’s going to be quite an anticlimax.
Well, nothing ever goes according to schedule in Thailand. The PAD kept people guessing about the exact time they would march on parliament. Then at 6pm yesterday (Sunday), it was announced they would seize Royal Plaza, the area in front of the parliament building, at 7pm. But they never made their move.
It’s been postponed to today (Monday). Now they say simultaneous protests will spring up at 6am. It’s just about 6am now. Four more bombs went off just over two hours ago at different locations, including two in the Bang Lamphu area, which is a bit worrying; that’s where the backpacker enclave of Khao San Road is located. No one hurt in any of the blasts, and the main damage seems to be to an empty police box that was blown up.
Looks like a hot day today. Another update here.
As for yesterday’s pro-government rally, details are a bit fuzzy, but it was held at a temple, and the abbot of the temple seems to have told them they’d have to leave if Thaksin did call in, so he apparently did not.
And the circus has begun! Protesters are on the march and have reached parliament. The lines of police have retreated onto the parliament grounds, and the protesters now have the place under siege. Traffic in that area is completely paralyzed now.
Another group of protesters are now on their way to Chart Thai Party headquarters. Chart Thai is a member of the coalition government.
The protesters have cut the power cables to parliament, rendering it without electricity. The deputy House speaker is due to make some sort of announcement at 9:30am, which is about 35 minutes from now.
Apparently the announcement was going to be something about the session being cancelled today if senators and MPs could not get inside. But the deputy House speaker could not get inside to make the announcement. And it seems the PAD has five MPs and a senator trapped inside and are vowing to lay siege to parliament untill the present session expires on Friday.
Now more protesters are on their way to besiege the Finance Minstry.
Update here.
So can we properly name this a coup attempt now?
No, actually we can’t. It’s just general mayhem. They don’t even know what to replace the government with!
The deputy House speaker did manage to make some sort of official announcement – from elsewhere – cancelling today’s session of parliament. Now the Metropolitan Police headquarters is under siege by protesters, too.
Well, time for me to venture forth into the city. But it’s a BIG city, and hopefully I won’t encounter any barricades or sweaty masses. Or at least, no more sweaty than usual. If I’m not captured, I’ll check back later.
A CNN update is here.
I’m back! Amazingly quiet over in my part of the city. You’d never know anything was going on anywhere. I’m pleased to report all is well over in Patpong, where I stopped in at Madrid Bar for lunch. Had the large Madrid Special pizza. Mmmmm. That is one good pizza.
It seems while I was out, the protesters declared victory at parliament, since they managed to get today’s session postponed, and it looks like they’ve dispersed, and the roads over that way are all clear now. See here. Then a small group headed out to the old Don Muang Airport in the northern part of the city, where the government has been operating out of a ratty old VIP lounge since they got kicked out of Government House three months ago, to besiege that. There are complaints that an adviser to the prime minister was allowed to escape from the old airport once the protesters descended on it. Seems they did not recognize him, and so he managed to walk past them to freedom. See here.
Even more bizarrely, Hitler … er, I mean Thaksin has been talking to the Arab press from Dubai, saying the UK will “feel sorrow” for cancelling his British visa. Story here.
A slideshow of today’s laughingly termed “final battle” is here.
Something is definitely fishy here. They were beating their breasts and vowing they would besiege parliament all this week, they were tying up traffic, then suddenly it’s: “Okay, our work here is done. Everyone to northern Bangkok now!” Orders must have come in from somewhere. As I said before, this whole mess is just a proxy war between different camps of Big Men, and who knows what all’s going on behind the scenes.
There’s news of 4 more bomb/grenade attacks today.
Ooog.
Those must be the same four I mentioned in #124 above. I don’t think there were any during the actual events yesterday. If that’s them, it’s especially worrying that two went off in the Bang Lamphu area, where Khao San Road with all of its foreign backpackers is located.
BBC was commenting on how clever the police actually were this time. Instead of confronting them in front of parliament like they did on October 7, they simply retreated into the parliament grounds and let them advance. This and the cancellation of the day’s session apparently flummoxed the PAD leadership, who seems to have been counting on some extreme violence, in order to draw force the army to take action, possibly a coup. BBC was talking about the “pointed desperation” of the PAD and how they just seem to be banging around now without any clear direction. The government may just be able to wait them out after all. (Unless Thaksin really does return. Expect a huge upswell of protesters if that happens.)
There’s talk of building a new Government House. Seems the protesters may have trashed the present one beyond repair.
Update here. Excerpt:
"The protesters have faced a setback in their strategy of the final showdown, in which they hoped to topple the Somchai government in a swoop. But their aggression was met with carrots rather than sticks by the Somchai government, which instructed the police to avoid any clashes and give way to the protesters.
"Without a fight and bloodshed, there was no cause for any political accidents to happen. Without military support, the protesters would have no chance of forcing radical political change.
"The yellow-shirt protesters began to lay siege at different locations early yesterday morning by marching from the Government House to Parliament, the Metropolitan Police Command Centre, the Finance Ministry and the Chat Thai Party’s office.
"The number of the protesters was estimated at between 20,000 to 30,000, fewer than the previous major gatherings.
“To their surprise, the police did virtually nothing to hinder their advance as they blocked Parliament at the Royal Plaza.”
Things are turning nasty in a hurry
That picture on the first link is on the Suvarhabhumi International Airport terminal. I don’t think we should expect many tourists from now on.
The second video seems to be close to where I was living before
Yes, Suvarnabhumi Airport – our main international airport and one of the busiest in Asia if not the world – is now partially closed, stranding an estimated 10,000 passengers; there are no departing flights now, but it looks like incoming ones are still allowed. Local story here and a CNN update here. Odd the PAD would want to block entrances to the airport, since their main target is Prime Minister Somchai, who is flying back from the Apec summit in Lima. They say he’ll just fly into Chiang Mai now.
And yes, as per Ale’s link above, 11 people were injured in a clash between the anti- and the pro-government groups, most of them shot. BBC said it began when someone threw rocks at a PAD truck, the occupants of which whipped out guns and started firing.
Hurting tourism might not be a bad thing in the end. Thailand depends so much on it that that’s what could finally make the government act. Although admittedly the government may be adopting the right stance for the moment. By allowing the protesters through to wherever they want to go, the PAD has been looking a bit foolish. BBC keeps talking about how desperate they seem searching for a meaningful target; they keep besieging empty buildings. The local press is likening the PAD to a chicken with its head cut off, running here, then there.
Traffic was horrible all over Bangkok yesterday evening, a direct result of the trouble. 
Meanwhile, there’s been another bomb about four hours ago, at Dusit Bridge over the river. Why they would want to bomb that particular bridge is a mystery. The safety pin from an M26 grenade was found at the scene. That’s right by the Peace Corps office by the way, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.
Myself, I’ll be nice and safe in the hospital for the next few days, having my shoulder worked on some more.
And a message from the PAD is here. So nice of them to apologize for the “inconvenience” of blocking access to the airport. :rolleyes:
Damn. Four more bombs in the last four hours: three at Suvarnabhumi Airport at 4:30 this morning (Wednesday morning) and one at the old Don Muang Airport, where the government has been operating out of since the Government House takeover, at 6:30, less than two hours ago. Story here. Maybe 12 injured, although there seems to be some confusion about that. It’s really heating up now.
Bombs and gunfire at a community radio station at 4:30 this morning. See here.
Signing off now and be back in a few days. Hope the city is still standing!