It's getting exciting: Protest movement is going to sabotage registration candidates

It will be tense today at the Thai-Japan stadium where election candidates must register. Can the protesters boycott the registration? Action leader Suthep Thaugsuban thinks so. "Anyone who wants to register will have to sneak between our legs to get in."

The Electoral Council is confident that registration will not be hindered. Forty staff members spent Sunday night in the stadium to prevent protesters from entering. "We have prepared measures to ensure that registration goes smoothly," Electoral Commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn said last night after a two-hour meeting. The Electoral Council decided to stick to the location and date.

A source at the Electoral Council says that the candidates are advised to report to the police if they are stopped. The Electoral Council will later check who was unable to enter. Incidentally, candidates do not have to register in person. They can also empower someone or the party leader.

Suthep continues to insist that the protest movement will try in every possible way to prevent the elections scheduled for February 2. "When the elections take place, millions of protesters will come and they will paralyze the city and all provinces all day long."

Talk about 'millions'. Suthep claims 3,5 million people were out yesterday, but a security unit [?] put it at 270.000. In any case, in both estimates, more people were on the streets yesterday than on December 9.

Finally, I list all Breaking News items from yesterday, because I assume not everyone has read them. For completeness. And I will end with my column, which I posted on my Facebook page today.

(Source: Bangkok Post, Dec. 23, 2013)

Photos: Demonstrators on the Taksin Bridge (named after King Taksin, not former Prime Minister Thaksin)

Breaking News Dec 22

• The registration of election candidates will continue on Monday. The location and date will not be changed. This was decided by the Electoral Council on Sunday evening. The Electoral Council says it has a back-up plan when demonstrators besiege the Thai-Japan stadium.
• According to protest leader Issara Somchai, protesters would march to the stadium at midnight on Sunday. He emphasizes that they will not deny access to staff and candidates. They just want to know which politicians are against political reform ahead of the [February 2] election. The protest movement wants the elections to be postponed so that political reforms can be worked on first.
• Someone can't count. According to the protest movement, 3,5 million people were on the move today, but the authorities put it at 270.000 at most. "We are with more people today than on December 9," says Suthep.
• Action leader Suthep Thaugsuban has called on the demonstrators to go to the Thai-Japan stadium, where the registration of election candidates will start tomorrow. He wants with all his might to prevent elections from being held on February 2. If the government perseveres, more opposition can be expected. Suthep called the Electoral Council 'the enemy of the people' if the elections go ahead. "We are ready for longer rallies."
• Protesters spread a 50-metre-long black cloth in front of the Royal Thai Police headquarters in protest at the police's inability to quickly clarify the death of a student during the night of Nov. 30 in Ramkhamhaeng with red shirts . They now give the police until December 25 to solve the case, otherwise there will be mass protests. The riot and special branch police stationed at the site had withdrawn to avoid confrontations. Stones and other objects were thrown onto the grounds from the skywalk.
• The demonstration at Prime Minister Yingluck's home has now ended. After a protest leader read a statement, the protesters returned to the Democracy Monument. The demonstrators were allowed by the police to come close to the fence of Yingluck's home. Six hundred kilometers further on the train to Nong Khai, Yingluck could follow the demonstration through the images of the surveillance cameras of her home. Yingluck makes an inspection tour in the Northeast. She left Udon Thani this morning. To avoid possible obstruction by protesters, the registration of election candidates, which starts tomorrow at the Thai-Japan stadium, may move to another location. The Electoral Council will decide tonight whether this is necessary. The registration of candidates for the national electoral list has been established by Royal Decree from 23 to 27 December. Then it is the turn of the district candidates. The Electoral Council does not consider it necessary to deploy the riot police to protect the stadium.
• Chuan Leekpai, an adviser to the opposition Democrats and two-time prime minister, leads a group of supporters in a march from party headquarters towards anti-government protesters at the Victory Monument. He is accompanied by some party bosses.
• Asked about Prime Minister Yingluck's proposal to form a post-election reform council, he says respect for the law is a prerequisite for reform. But the Yingluck government has failed to do so by rejecting a Constitutional Court verdict and engaging in discrimination, Chuan said.
• The four major shopping malls in Ratchaprasong are normally open from 10 a.m. to 22 p.m. despite massive anti-government protests. The big four are CentralWorld, Siam Paragon, Siam Center and Siam Discovery. They are accessible by BTS or by road via Phayathai road and Rama I road.
• Action leader Suthep Thaugsuban leads a group of protesters on their way to Wong Wien Yai and Silom. Arriving at Wong Wien Yai, Suthep and other protest leaders paid homage to the statue of King Taksin (1734-1782). Then it went over the Taksin bridge towards Silom, where another group of demonstrators is waiting for them.
• More than a thousand, mostly women and transvestites, many members of the dance group in Miss Tiffany, have gathered at the home of Prime Minister Yingluck, who is not at home, because she left for Nong Khai this morning. They would later be joined by a group of protesters who left the Democracy Monument in vehicles and motorcycles. The police are present with 1.100 men to prevent the demonstrators from reaching the house.

Tintin in Bangkok

Thailand, December 23 – Dick, I said (because when you're alone, you start talking to yourself). There are rallies in Bangkok today, go watch and write a nice story about it. Once a Tintin, always a Tintin. So I got into a packed metro vehicle at Huai Khwang metro station, which was quite unusual for the (Sunday) day and time. But I saw no whistles, the badge of the anti-government protesters. The next three stations the vehicle ran Japanese-full. Only at Sukhumvit and Silom did air come. Got off at Sam Yan which was supposed to be a protest location. Saw a handful of Thai return with whistles. But where was the demonstration? (not continued)