Thailand announces state of emergency in capital

Yahoo/AP ^

[nuconvert]

BANGKOK – Thailand's prime minister narrowly escaped a savage attack and rioting erupted in Bangkok as protesters commandeered public buses and swarmed triumphantly over military vehicles in unchecked defiance after the government declared a state of emergency.

Bands of red-shirted anti-government protesters roamed areas of the Thai capital, with some smashing a car carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them.

At least 10 intersections were occupied by the protesters, who used buses to barricade several major roads, spawning massive traffic jams.

[BillM]

Bangkok and the elite wish to enslave the rest of Thailand. Consider this as Washington and its elite.

Thaksin has been mischararacterized badly. He actually is a poulist himself. The reality is that he was elected, reelected, and will be reelected again if he is allowed to return and run.

[w1andsodidwe]

Thailand is one of my favorite places in the world to vacation. Not so much Bangkok but Chiang Mai.

I was wondering if the problem was wide spread, but it sounds a though a tourist could still be relatively safe visiting.

[normanpubbie]

Thailand has been a kingdom for centuries. In 1932 the absolute monarchy was abolished and a democracy was established. The current monarch, King Bhumibol, has been on the throne since 1946. The King was born in the U.S. and the country is the most pro-Western nation in that part of the world.

Between its inception and 1997, Thailand had a number of pseudo-constitutions and a number of coups occurred. That year, the country adopted a real constitution. Thaksin Shinawatra, a police officer-turned-businessman, founded the TRT party which was elected in 2001 by a majority of votes and he became Prime Minister; Thaksin was reelected in 2005 -- the first reelection in Thai history. In early 2006, pretty much continuous street protetsts were staged by PAD (aka the "yellow shirts"); in response, Thaksin organized a "snap" vote or referendum and won it. The "yellow shirts" are called that because the King's colors are yellow and PAD claims to support the monarchy. During his regime, Thaksin was repeated charged with corruption; he was tried once in a Thai court early in his administration and was acquitted. The mantra of Thaksin's opponents is that he is corrupt but "where's the beef?"

In September of 2006, a military junta staged a coup while Thaksin out of the country. The junta leaders, known finally as the CNS, issued a new constitution then installed their own Prime Minister and replaced all of the judges in the three highest courts. They also put their own people on the Election Commission. The Election Commission in Thailand is allowed to nullify elections. Thecourts also abolished Thaksin's party and ruled that those politicians could not run for office for five years.

Apparently most people did not like the new junta-friendly constitution so another was drawn up and voted upon. It passed. In December 2007, parliamentary elections were held. The TRT's successor party PPP received 233 of 480 votes and took office. PAD continued to stage street demonstrations in 2008, occupying Government House and laterbo th Bangkok airports, preventing all airliners from landing or taking off for a two-week period. Apparently some visitors to Thailand were prevented from leaving the airport during that time.

In mid-2008 the Courts and the Election Commission removed enough PPP and allied legislators on questionable pretexts that the Democrat Party was able to form a government with the aid of some former PPP members.

Since the 2006 coup, the courts have seized all of Thaksin's assets in the country (about $2 billion worth) and have convicted him in absentia of tax evasion. He is currently a fugitive from justice curretly probably in Asia somewhere. The evidence against him, as described in the Thai press, looks pretty weak; he would never have been convicted in an American court.

Thaksin is much more popular across the country than the Democrat PM, whose supports seems to be mainly in Bangkok. His supporters are called the UDD (aka "red shirts"); they assembled in Bangkok in huge numbers on April 8 and basically have shut down downtown Bangkok. Their demands are twofold: Remove the illegally-installed Democrats from power and restore the 1997 Constitution.

Another coup, staged by the Army as before, seems very likely. I don't see the government backing down nor the protesters. Since 1932 there have been 17 coups d'etat in Thailand and people are dreading another. I wonder if the monarchy will survive another coup.

[jedi150]

I am in Central Thailand and the problems are in BKK and Pattaya. Nothing changes here, pretty much everyday life. Song Kran is getting a head of steam going and will be pretty wild for the next week. A few low level protests around the country and in NE. Most up this way are strong supporters of the Red “REPUBLICAN” faction with one small protest some months ago by a very small, “10” group of PAD people. The Reds won’t pull the same BS in the Airport like the Yellow did and go unpunished for it so I would say it is safe to travel there but good idea to head for you destination asap.

[USMCPOP]

Back in about 1977, I was living up-country in Loei and there was a military takeover. I heard about it on the news :)

Haven’t heard anything from my sister-in-law in Nakorn Pathom, so I assume it’s just another day in paradise.

[Hawthorn]

>> I wonder if the monarchy will survive another coup. <<

The monarchy will survive as long as the King is alive. But he’s in his 80’s and very frail. Probably can’t hold on too much longer. After he’s gone all bets are off. Many observers are predicting disaster and chaos. In fact, I don’t think it’s implausible to think that ten years from now, Thailand will almost have become another Burma.

[rabidralph]

LOL!

[rontorr]

Depends on what block you are standing at in Bangkok. Amazing that Political strife exists on one street and you can walk a block to Party central for Songkran Holiday!

---

or you can come up here to the hills above Chiang Mai and no one is paying attention to all that. Ho Hum, more political crap way down in Bangkok...AGAIN.

[rontorr]

Great response bro

[rontorr]

another typical Farang Thaksin hater/PAD lover style comment, obviously not living out in the country where the real ( 80%of the people) live. For 90% of the red shirt backers it is not even about Thaksin, it is about the uneven power distribution between the Aristocracy and Ruling Elite and the reast of the country

[rontorr]

seems like us country boys agree on a few things

[SunkenCiv]

If this were Burma, the gov’t would just send in the Rangoon squad.

[jedi150]

For 90% of the red shirt backers it is not even about Thaksin, it is about the uneven power distribution between the Aristocracy and Ruling Elite and the reast of the country

Like I have said many times in regard to this, It's a Urban vs Rural struggle. Very similar to Oregon in the since of the North Willamette valley controlling the entire State of Oregon.

On the bigger example it's like Washington DC controlling the entire USA!

[JimSEA]

I live in San Sai, just north of Chiang Mai and near the center of the Thaksin empire. I also spend a considerable time in Phrae — Rong Kat actually. Many of Thaksin’s opponents are, in fact, well educated. Just the sort that Pol Pot executed in Cambodia. Now Thaksin calls for a revolution. Is Thailand headed toward a Zimbabwe or Khmer Rouge solution to it's political turmoil?

[fella]

Kind of an idea for our Tea Parties.

[fella]

Things are going from bad to worse over there....

Is this going to adversely affect their main source of income the pedophile/tourism business? If so where all educators go for vacation?

[fella]

Things are going from bad to worse over there....

Is this going to adversely affect their main source of income the pedophile/tourism business? If so where all educators go for vacation?

[fella]

Things are going from bad to worse over there....

Is this going to adversely affect their main source of income the pedophile/tourism business? If so where will all our educators go for vacation?

[killjoy]

Are these “redshirts” the same as the “yellowshirts” that were raising hell a few months ago?

The red shirts are holding demonstrations counter to what the yellow shirts were doing last year. They are on exact opposite sides of the political spectrum. The yellows were in favor of an oligarchy and removing the democratic process from Thailand since their candidates couldn't win in elections. The reds, at least on paper, want democracy returned to the country.

[killjoy]

Trivia time. Who was the last democratically elected PM in Thailand?