News from Thailand – December 2, 2013
Students of Ramkhamhaeng University on the run from red shirts.
Sunday did not bring the announced victory. What worked and what is the current situation? A brief overview:
- Four ministries were besieged: Foreign Affairs, Employment, Trade and Interior, as well as the Public Relations Department. The demonstrators did not enter, but locked the entrance gates with a chain and padlock. Attempts to get through to Government House and the Bangkok Municipal Police headquarters failed.
- The Ministry of Health reports that 73 people have been treated for injuries in hospitals. Most had minor injuries after being exposed to tear gas.
- Earlier, protesters besieged the Ministry of Finance (that's where they went in), Budget Bureau, Department of Special Investigation (the Thai FBI), CAT Telecom Co and TOT Plc. In building B of the Government Administration Center, the demonstrators camp on the ground floor.
- The Rajamangala stadium, where the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD, red shirts) held a well-attended rally on Saturday, is virtually empty after the leadership urged its supporters to go home.
- On Saturday afternoon and evening, students from nearby Ramkhamhaeng University got into a fight with red shirts. Three people were killed (four according to a statement from the municipal Erawan Center). More than fifty people were injured.
- Thousands of students trapped on the university campus have left under army escort.
- Three media groups have protested media harassment by protesters after they marched on five commercial TV stations and the public broadcaster PBS. The demonstrators demanded that TV channels broadcast the 'declaration of victory', which Suthep would make in the afternoon. The protesters also demanded that government announcements be stopped.
- Channel 11 refused to broadcast the speech, channel 9 broadcast for 10 minutes. Channels 3, 5, 7 and Thai PBS bowed to the demands. The Thai Journalists Association, Broadcast Journalists Association and News Broadcasting Council of Thailand call the harassment a threat to media freedom and contrary to democracy.
- See more news Breaking News.
– The embassies of the US and the UK in Thailand are concerned about the increasing political tensions. “We urge all sides to refrain from violence, exercise restraint, and respect the rule of law,” the US Embassy wrote on its Facebook page. Both embassies call for peaceful dialogue.
Myanmar is also making a contribution. The president's spokesman calls on government and protesters to resolve their political problems peacefully. Secretary of State Ye Htut (Information) says: "We believe that national reconciliation is the most important condition for moving the country forward."
– In Chiang Rai, anti-government demonstrators and red shirts clashed in the afternoon at the Phor Khun Mengrai monument. They yelled at each other and there was some fighting. The police separated the groups. The demonstrators then moved to the Provincial House.
Anti-government demonstrators also made themselves heard in other provinces. The newspaper mentions Satun, Phetchabun, Nakhon Ratchasima, Ratchaburi, Buri Ram, Phitsanulok, Uttaradit and Nakhon Si Thammarat.
In Phetchabun three hundred men marched to the Provincial House. The two deputy governors allowed them to enter.
In Ratchaburi, XNUMX protesters clashed with provincial officials, who had closed the gate. Injuries have not been reported.
In Phitsanulok and Uttaradit, kamnans and village chiefs marched to the Provincial House.
In Nakhon Ratchasima, XNUMX demonstrators besieged the Provincial House and the governor's residence.
– The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD, red shirts) canceled its rally in the Rajamangala stadium (Ramkhamhaeng, Bangkok) on Sunday morning after two supporters and a student were killed on Saturday.
21-year-old student Thaweesak Phokaew was the first victim of the protests. His father insists that his death should not be used as a means of political pressure. Thaweesak was a first-year student at the Department of Business Administration.
Police are looking for the man who shot him. Two men arrested for carrying a gun go unpunished because the bullets from their firearms don't match the bullet that killed Thaweesak.
Around noon, the rector of Ramkhamhaeng University said that 2010 students were trapped on campus. They were afraid to leave because they had seen men dressed in black on the causeway in front of the university. 'Men in black' are held responsible for a lot of violence in XNUMX. Soldiers later escorted the students out.
At 16 p.m., a bus in front of the university went up in flames. Police found burnt bones, possibly human bones, in the toilet of the bus. Earlier, the newspaper reported that a badly burned body had been found.
– BRN negotiator Hassan Taib has set two new demands for the continuation of peace talks with Thailand. The first demand is to meet the five demands made by the resistance group in April; the second demand that the peace negotiations be placed on the national agenda by Prime Minister Yingluck.
Hassan made the demands in a video on YouTube. "The BRN is a liberation movement for the nation of Patani, to free it from the shackles of Siamese colonialism, to realize justice and prosperity in the form of an independent Patani." Patani refers to the three southernmost provinces.
The BRN and Thailand have met three times since February under the watchful eye of Malaysia, most recently in June. Concrete results have not yet been reported. The next meeting has been suspended indefinitely due to the disturbances in Bangkok.
www.dickvanderlugt.nl – Source: Bangkok Post
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Breaking News The baht stood at 32,225 per dollar this morning at 32,285am from 0,5 earlier, representing a drop of 2,9 percent. The current price is the lowest since early September. If the protests continue, the baht could fall further, Bloomberg expects. The baht lost XNUMX percent in the past month, its biggest one-month drop since May.
Breaking News Anti-government protesters today attempt to besiege the municipal police headquarters, Government House and parliament building. Other government buildings may come later
Breaking News Protesters are trying to remove barbed wire and concrete barriers on the Rama V road and the Chamai Maruchet bridge. Riot police fired tear gas grenades at them. She threatens to arrest protesters who remove the roadblocks.
Breaking News The chief of the national police warns his subordinates about leaking information to the demonstrators. Anyone who does so is considered a traitor and should be executed, he says. The commissioner suspects that some officers are informing demonstrators about the police strategy. The leadership has been instructed to take strict action against officers who side with the demonstrators.
Breaking News Protesters managed to capture a police arrest car. (Source: Own observation TV news Thai PBS)
Breaking News Prime Minister Yingluck is ready to resign if this ends the protests and the demonstrators return home. She said this in a TV speech today. She called action leader Suthep Thaugsuban's proposal to set up a 'People's Council' unacceptable because it is against the law. (Source: Thai PBS)
Suthep said earlier that Yingluck's resignation and dissolution of the House of Representatives would not be enough to end the protests. He wants to eradicate the 'Thaksin regime' root and branch.
Small analysis about Thailand .., thanks to Pascal Dufoor ... " The demonstrators want the army to intervene, with the necessary casualties so that they have a reason to point out the current PM's responsibility and possibly have her stand trial, just like the current protest leader Suthep and his puppet Abhisit. In itself it is a good thing that the government still allows them to act fairly well and limits it to tear gas and water cannon. But things have to move forward now for the demonstrators, December 05 is an important day here, and it would be disrespectful from the 'royalists' to still be beating buses with a flag, so, in the next few days it will be all or I don't think anything will happen here. A lot depends on the money the local authorities have to pay the demonstrators, they don't come for free either, maybe the first few days, but this weekend was first seen by Suthep as the decisive battle, so, a lot of money spent on demonstrators from all over the country to Bkk. If the government can hold out for a few more days, then they have won a big battle, because after the long weekend of December 5, it will be more difficult for suthep & co…”
Dear John,
It would be nice if you would read a lot of the political news on this blog before you see Abhisit as a puppet of Suthep.
As you can often read on this blog, there is a little more going on at the moment than just going and celebrating the king's birthday quietly and alone.
I can also tell you that Abhisit and Sethep, just like the many demonstrators on the street, are very royalist.
The people on the street are against everything that is corrupt…so they still have a long way to go…great.
Incidentally, most demonstrators do not get any money to demonstrate… it is usually the hard-working people, the students, the graduates who are now demonstrating, other than the usually paid red shirts.
I wish you good political knowledge.
Kind regards from Danny
I have a job that is very close to politics, all I can say is that democracy is the highest good… isn't it?
I also know from a very good source that people have been “bought” to start kicking shack.
And yes .. who is not royalist in Thailand ...?
And yes… Suthep's last hours are over…!!Seen the news in Thailand…?
I personally think that the truth will, as always, be somewhere in the middle…but as a “democrat” I find it very difficult to approve of the situation that is happening in BKK…!
Yingluck Shinawatra plays the “game” very wisely…you can't deny that…?
I hope it will soon stagnate…The country and the inhabitants are too beautiful to let everything go to the c….!
Thailand is not going to shit, it hasn't happened in the last 10 years. Thailand will literally and figuratively endure blows in many areas, will be thrown back a few solid steps, but will prove flexible and combative. What's going on right now just needs to be done. Processes have been set in motion that offer Thailand the opportunity to develop towards change for the better. Taking this fact seriously is more appropriate than due to a lack of knowledge and insight into the precise Thai situation, but to grumble a bit on the side. And then also one with an air of knowing it all. Please note: every country, every people has the democratic right to protest demonstrations. Thailand is now using it. And of course it all seems hectic and chaotic, even threatening and evokes fear. Completely understandable, but absolutely no reason to feel sorry about it. The events for Thailand are too far-reaching for that.
Dear John
I, too, am a strong supporter of democracy, but the votes for Yingluck and her family were bought or collected by pledges.
This is called corruption, to which the largest and especially the poor areas in Thailand are very sensitive.
It is precisely these people who have little or no interest in politics, but (often) due to poverty are sensitive to the bribery practices of the Thaksin-yingluck family.
To me this is a mock democracy, which is now being fought by a minority.
This minority is not about power, but about corruption and you will notice that when you really walk and talk among these people.
It is to be hoped that this minority will be able to get the majority behind with good arguments and if you are right then the corruption will continue with the sick rice system and disorganized water management spending that will bring the economy to the abyss.
Democracy should earn not buy a country.
a good greeting from Danny.