Posted on 11/29/2008 8:08:46 AM PST by DTogo
BANGKOK, Thailand — Riot police fled a checkpoint near Bangkok's international airport Saturday after coming under attack by several hundred anti-government protesters who have been occupying the main terminal.
About 150 police at the checkpoint jumped into their vehicles and sped off when they saw a convoy of protesters — many armed with metal rods and some carrying guns — speeding toward them. Video footage of the attack appeared to show a protester firing a handgun toward a police van filled with officers. It was not immediately clear if there were any injuries.
The attack effectively broke a massive police cordon that officials had formed earlier in the day around the protesters occupying Thailand's main airport, raising fears of an imminent confrontation in a standoff that has disrupted the country's economy and the travel industry worldwide.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Looks like the people in Thailand want "change," and are arming themselves to effect it.
Is this in any way connected to the violent Muslim uprisings in the south of Thailand? The country certainly seems to be falling apart, since that and the tsunami. They’re a major rice producer, too. Not good.
Nope...PAD are the good guys, military, bad guys in this case
I don’t see the connection with Thailand and the second ammendment. They DO NOT have a second ammendment. They do have protests that are now turning violent. The do apparently have protesters with guns.
The protests are by a faction of the population that disagrees with the outcome of the election. No one is really disputing that the guy who is in power got the most votes. However the protesters feel he used so much money to get elected, and the voters are so stupid (many Thais are poor illiterate villagers still) that the result is really horrible.
They want the popular vote system replaced with a group vote system where certain groups are guaranteed a certain percentage of the parliment. These might include professional groups as well as religious and ethnic groups.
Their design in the protests is to force the Army onto the field, and encourage them once involved to dissolve the government. In other words force a coup-d’etat.
The Royal family is well loved in Thailand. The Royal family has quietly sided with the protesters.
I really don’t see any connection with the USA whatsoever: We don’t have a king. We don’t have a parliamentary system. Few Americans would be so mad about an election that they supported a military coup. They don’t have a second ammendment, so in so far as the people having guns it is probably illegal. (Though a friend who lived there said it was easy to buy AK-47s)
It's not that simple. Also, the people breaking up the riot were riot police, not the military. The military are not yet involved. The so called "good guys" are trying to get the military involved in support of them. Will the military be 'the good guys' when they do what PAD wants and overthrow the elected government? I don't have a dog in this fight, but I don't think it fits into a nice black and white narrative of "good guys - bad guys".
>>>>>They don’t have a second ammendment, so in so far as the people having guns it is probably illegal. <<<<<<
I’ve spent some time in Thailand and pretty sure I saw some info there about gun clubs and shooting ranges, along with photos. Never had the impulse to visit one and not sure of the laws, but we’re talking full-on semi-auto handguns. By permit only? Dunno.
Why, then, are these protestors so violently opposed to the election results? Who has seemingly bought their way into power in their Parliament, that this group you call PAD has felt the need to take up arms? A reply below yours states that the royal family supports the protestors. Can you describe the competing factions at work in this?
>The protests are by a faction of the population that disagrees with the outcome of the
>election. No one is really disputing that the guy who is in power got the most votes. However
>the protesters feel he used so much money to get elected, and the voters are so stupid (many
>Thais are poor illiterate villagers still) that the result is really horrible.
Wait... are we talking about their election or ours?
Once The One brings the troops home, the only remaining effective weapon in the War on Terror will be the 2nd Amendment, and its successful implementation by all concerned parties. Change...bring the War on Terror back to the USA, where Obama can keep his eyes on his enemies (us).
When the People can't arm themselves, protesting with placards or bullhorns doesn't always capture the attention of politicians/governments.
Good guys? You meant that the PAD bent on destroying the Thai economy and installing a military puppet regime are actually good? It is not that simple as you think it is.
Bingo!
“They do have protests that are now turning violent. The do apparently have protesters with guns.”
Which is about how the Brits looked upon us colonial rif-raff circa 1774.
This story illustrate for everyone the power that the Second Amendment gives each and every citizen of the United States.
Whne the Thailand police saw people with guns show up to oppose them they wisely ran away.
“When the People can’t arm themselves, protesting with placards or bullhorns doesn’t always capture the attention of politicians/governments.”
Sure it captures their attention. Just long enough for them to send in troops to “deal with” said people. Tianamen square, for example.
Are you certain?
Wait... are we talking about their election or ours?Or are we talking about the gays in California?
A king is simply a formality in distinguishing the boss in an aristocracy. If you don't see an aristocracy in the United States, you need to remove your blinders. Bush vs Kerry, heirs of the wealthy. Bush vs Gore, heirs of the wealthy. Kennedy, the equivalent of a duke. Look at you congress and show me how representative they are of the wealthy, the aristocracy. The poor in the congress start at the top of the middle-class.
Exactly!
The son of a church friend of ours is on a year long mission trip and is currently stuck in Bangkok. He was supposed to be in South Africa the day before Thanksgiving, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to leave Thailand for another week or so.
And firearm ownership is strictly regulated and very expensive if you wish to own a firearm. Most guns that are in private ownership used for hunting are very old Black powder weapons.
No they are not. They are a fascist terrorist group. I live in Bangkok. You obviously don't.
Not really. They are pretty easy to get with the right paperwork. My wife has a Glock 19.
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1779/
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-298-2008
November 26, 2008
A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission
THAILAND: Watershed moment for democracy and rule of law
The takeover of the main international airport in Bangkok by protestors going under the banner of the People’s Alliance for Democracy is a watershed moment for democracy and the rule of law in Thailand. It follows some months of increasingly aggressive strategies to get the current government to resign and to block it from making amendments to the 2008 Constitution, which was prepared under the watch of the 2006 military coup leaders and their supporters and pushed through via a deeply flawed referendum.
Alliance members have since August gone from merely occupying spaces like roads and parks to occupying public buildings, in particular, the Government House. Organised armed “guards” have defended their positions both from opponents and from state security personnel. They have also illegally obtained and openly carried an array of manufactured and homemade weapons, including guns from caches that had reportedly been kept in the government premises. They have illegally detained other citizens. They have vandalised, destroyed and stolen public and private property. In the last day or two it has been reported that in addition to occupying the Suvarnabumi airport they have seized busses, and have refused to allow police into the airport to investigate explosions there during the night. They are now reportedly preparing for the latest phase in the “final battle”, which is supposedly being instigated under codenames like Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the cities on which the United States military dropped nuclear bombs at the close of World War Two.
The alliance has exhibited a number of features that from past lessons of Thailand and other countries around the world pose grave dangers to the future of the country’s imperilled democracy. Of these, the following can be said.
1. They spring from a far-right ideology that has for decades driven successive military-bureaucratic administrations in Thailand, which dramatic changes to political and social life of the last two decades have increasingly threatened.
2. Their coordinated attacks and actions on the pretext of self-defence and national interest are designed to cause a widespread feeling of insecurity and uncertainty and allow reactionary elite forces to push Thailand back to a 1980s model of “half-sail” semi-elected government.
3. The alliance leaders have occupied the public space and forced people throughout Thailand to either take sides for or against them, or to opt out completely, thus alienating millions of people and denying them the opportunity to have a say on the key political and social questions of their time.
Some commentators and opponents of the alliance have described its agenda as fascist. This is not an exaggeration. Experience shows that the types of systemic changes and regimes that follow such movements, although they may not describe themselves as fascist, have fascist qualities. Indeed, successive dictatorships in Thailand’s modern history appreciated, expressed and used many fascist symbols and policies, and the residue of these can be found in the language and behaviour of the alliance leaders today.
If these events are allowed to continue, and it is self-evident that they are being allowed, they will effectively undo everything that was done to build a culture of democratic rights and participation in public life in Thailand during the 1990s. The damage that they are now in a position to effect will surpass anything of that caused by the ousted government of Thaksin Shinawatra, and could even provoke a greater disaster than the 2006 coup and scrapping of the 1997 Constitution. Whatever institutional and legal gains were made in the last decade or two will be undone.
Already, the criminal justice system of Thailand has been reduced to an utter joke, its agencies and personnel either unable or unwilling to intervene effectively to protect public property and people’s lives, or even prosecute wrongdoers. That the security forces can carry out coups on the whimsy of generals and engage in battles over trifles with those of neighbouring countries but not responsibly protect the Government House or international airport is sheer farce. That government agencies have been forced to negotiate and cut their losses rather than insist that the law be enforced is dangerous folly. And that the senior judiciary, which through a succession of highly politicised judgments has played a major part in contributing to the current mess has nothing useful to contribute when lives are at stake and the country is in greatest need of intelligent guidance is altogether shameful.
Peaceful protest is not only a part of democratic process; it is integral to it. But the rallies and blockades in Bangkok of recent days, weeks and months have not been peaceful. Nor can they properly be called protests at all, as they are not merely demonstrations of a wish, but acts aimed at achieving goals at all costs. And the costs to Thailand have already been very high. They will get higher, and be felt in terms of the lives and liberties of all people in the country if they are not brought to an end. All people in Thailand have a right to oppose this ultra-conservative project for state dominance at their expense.
The Asian Human Rights Commission especially takes this opportunity to call for far greater global attention on events in Thailand, which have passed for these few months without any discernible reaction from international bodies, especially the United Nations. Having vacillated on the 2006 coup the world community cannot afford to this time let things just go on without some meaningful intervention. If Thailand slips further backwards it will be to the detriment not only of its own millions but the entire region. At a time that repressive anti-democratic forces are either making comebacks or strengthening their positions almost everywhere, Thailand cannot afford to be lost.
# # #
About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.
Good read! Musta relaxed some of the restrictions on Firearms. last time I talked to anyone about it was 12 years ago.
It is relatively easy to get permits to own a pistol, although 45 ACP is classified as a war weapon and restricted. Not sure on the exact legal status on shotguns and rifles but there are plenty of shotguns available for sport shooting. The only real downside to private ownership here is the cost. IIRC, an importer can only import around 12 pistols a year so they jack up the prices accordingly. There isn't a single authorized Glock importer/distributor here because of the limits so Glock has a coordinator to work with a few hundred (or more) various shops setup as dealers. This causes a major increase in price with a new Glock going for around 50,000 baht.
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