The RED SHIRT Crisis in Bangkok!

[robbo]

thats because it is a warzone at the moment,think id have a tin hat on to if i were there, live rounds going off and death toll on the up.no its not the Nana area,but its not that far away if your familiar with BKK.areas which i often go through or spend time in as im sure many guys do.
btw i would not feel safe at Nana now anyway situation is very volatile there is no telling what /when happens nxt. give BKK a wide berth.
read the BKK post online and BBC world also Reuters to check out uptodate.

[Bumpa STIKKA]

I'm staying indoors where it's safe!

[Road Runner]

(Bumpa STIKKA @ May 14 2010,23:40) I'm staying indoors where it's safe!

Knowing where you are that strikes me as a wise move.

RR.

[deepthroat]

Maybe shoulda read the existing thread instead of starting a new one on same subject (although your title is much better than the one we've been posting in lately).

https://theladyboyforums.com/cgi-bin....t=25685

Here's what I last posted:

Getting closer to Nana now:

(Reuters) - Thai troops fired tear gas and rubber bullets toward protesters on Friday following overnight fighting that killed one and wounded 11, including a rogue general, as a two-month political crisis deepened.

WORLD | THAILAND

A foreign journalist was shot during the afternoon skirmishes, a Reuters witness said. No other details were immediately available.

The protesters had gathered outside the famous Suan Lum night market to stop soldiers from sealing off roads around their main fortified encampment in Bangkok's commercial heart.

They set fire to a bus, motorbike and tires as they retreated, and soldiers took control of an intersection leading to a road lined with hotels, the U.S. ambassador's home and several embassies, which were closed and evacuated.

Troops fired rubber bullets into Lumphini Park in central Bangkok after gunshots were heard near an encampment that anti-government protesters have occupied the past five weeks, Thailand television said.

Soldiers used tear gas and water cannon before dawn [I]at the Nana intersection, packed with shops and racy go-go bars.[/I] Skirmishes flared in other parts of the city as the protesters remained defiant, vowing to fight to the death.

"They are tightening a noose on us but we will fight to the end, brothers and sisters," a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told a cheering crowd of about 10,000 at the main protest site.

[deepthroat]

Although the reporting was still less in-depth than I'd like, the McNeil/Lehrer Newshour on PBS had a good 5 or 6 minutes on the story last night.

Not nearly as important to American entertainment/news programs as the latest update about a fad diet or celebrity bullshit. Very frustrating.

I've found the best source for information seems to be Google News: http://news.google.com/news/section?...ned=us&topic=w

or even YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v....d#!

[deepthroat]

Rocks, bottles, rubber bullets lead to bloodshed in Bangkok

By Tim Johnston
Financial Times
Friday, May 14, 2010; 2:54 PM
BANGKOK -- Behind a stage at their makeshift camp in downtown Bangkok, protest leaders held an impromptu meeting Friday night. Despite sweltering heat, all but one wore a bullet-proof vest.

The perimeter of the "Red Shirt" base, with its stockades of tires and sharpened bamboo, has always looked like a war zone. But on Friday the protests crossed a new line, and the site took on the appearance of a besieged camp in the middle of enemy territory.

Powerful searchlights flashed over the roofs of skyscrapers, seeking out snipers like the one who allegedly shot and critically wounded protest leader Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol on Thursday.

In the rare moments between amplified belligerence from loudspeakers on the stage, the rattle and pop of gunfire could be heard on the southern perimeter of the protest zone, evidence of a lethal game of hide and seek being played in the darkness by soldiers and anti-government demonstrators.

The operation that sparked Friday's bloodshed was designed to quarantine the sprawling protest site, cutting off reinforcements and supplies. A scrappy battle developed. Troops -- many of them appearing frightened and ill-disciplined -- began by firing tear gas and rubber bullets, then escalated to live ammunition.

The protesters initially appeared to be armed only with rocks, bottles and slingshots. But there was evidence that they also had a small number of weapons, including grenade launchers and homemade rockets.

Caught in the crossfire were two Thai reporters and a Canadian cameraman. The three suffered gunshot wounds, but their injuries were not believed to be life-threatening. At least five people were reported killed, and dozens of others were injured.

Friday was not the most violent day of the nine-week protest -- that was April 10, when 25 people, including 19 protesters, five soldiers and a cameraman, were killed -- but it marked a troubling low point.

At best, the violence showed that the protesters' claims to be a peaceful movement were seriously flawed. At worst, it suggested that the movement has been hijacked by militants who believe that their road to victory lies through chaos.

Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was once the moving spirit behind the protests, now is calling for negotiations. Thaksin, a telecommunications billionaire who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a two-year sentence for corruption, reportedly was instrumental in blocking the protesters' acceptance of embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's offer last week of early elections.

There were fears that the protests, which have been confined to a relatively small if high-profile part of Bangkok, could spread to the countryside, where Thaksin and the Red Shirt movement draw most of their support.

Confrontations already have been reported outside Bangkok, and the government has responded by extending a state of emergency to 17 of the country's 76 provinces.

But if the clashes spread and there are more shadowy meetings of men in bullet-proof jackets, the conflict may start to look less like a political protest and more like an insurrection.

[Snick]

It's bad. And I retreated to Pattaya.
No one has a clue how this will end

[ezflip]

By your statement, the feeling on the street is that it's unsafe now?

I know that things are bad. I'm not that dense. I have, and still, read all the news clips. But it does not convey the real feeling of the street since it is directly focused on the trouble spots.

What I would like to know is how the general population in the neighboring areas are affected, if at all. Hence the question to the ones that are there now.

[strocube]

Holy crap!
Thanks for the updates, Deepthroat.
As you rightly pointed out the "news" media in the states is a FUCKING JOKE.
I'll be looking on here to see what's going on.

[El_hefe]

There's a reason why those guys on TV are wearing flak jackets & helmets, a CBC cameraman took 3 bullets today & 2 Thai reporters were shot. That general got whacked right in the middle of an interview with the NY Times, the reporter said he heard the bullet whizz, he figures it came in just over his head, another cameraman(Japanese) was killed a month or so ago.......

[f0xxee]

In the last few weks I had not been overly concerned about it, and thought the"Roadmap to Peace" might have allowed enough face saving on both sides to allow the crowds to disperse. However it would seem the moderade reds, (Veera etc) have been over ruled by the hawks (that idiot Seh Deang) with the blessing of Thaskin and it's game on....
I wonder how they sleep at nights with the endless rhetoric, whilst hiding behind a shield of the poor and thier children.
I have friends arriving from Oz next week and am seriously thinking of telling them to stay home although we can get home to HH and avoid it all by taking the Ring Roads.
But when you have red-shirts feeling they have the authority to place thier own road blocks and stop and detain cars/travellers at will then you realise that it may be possible to be in the way of danger even on a run to the airport.
HH it's self continues on it's apolitical way. Ther is no love or respect for the red shirts here. And even Mrs Foxxee once an avid red shirt supporteris now at the stage where she see's them as self indulgent seekers of the lime light, with little regard for Joe Somchai.
Avoid BKK. I would say that Nana is too close for comfort, and would consider staying in the higher Sois only.

[kahuna]

Jesus, I wonder how some of you make it through the winter...

Just read The Nation, the Bangkok Post or Thai Visa for constant updates...

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/

http://www.bangkokpost.com/

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum....00.html

[f0xxee]

Hi Kahuna,

I use the BKK post and Nation websited all the time, but Thai Visa?

God there are some morons on that forum. I take my hat off to the moderators there. It would be the most cyncism enducing occupation going.

[kahuna]

I agree, but Thai Visa provides a constant update with news gleaned from many sources...

[Snick]

Thaivisa is a very good resource. Bonus, their day by day update thread is closed to comments.