The RED SHIRT Crisis in Bangkok!

[Tomcat]

I noticed today that another huge convoy heading down Suk towards the Red quarter. I think Silom will be the next target as you alluded to earlier.

[Snick]

they're there already

[guydesavoy]

A state of emergency has just been declared in Bangkok. This gives the Government certain extraordinary powers and invokes the attendant legislation.

The most important feature concerning BM's of the Forum is that any public gathering of 5 people or more shall henceforth be illegal and subject to being broken up, by force.

So when meeting up for a few cold ones at Guess Bar or Big Dog's please observe the following :

3 on the left side, 2 on the right. Or 4 on the left, one on the right...or whatever combination seems appropriate.
If there are only 4 of you and BHog turns up, just run !!  

Not sure what the situation is for Pattaya. It's possible that anything goes down there.

[lemontree26]

(guydesavoy @ Apr. 07 2010,20:59) If there are only 4 of you and BHog turns up, just run !!  

Has Boarhog been spotted in Bangkok?  

[Snick]

All clear in obsessions. Will check cascades next for subversive activities.

[celentano]

do you mean, no Gang Bang with 4 or more LB's?

Damn....

[seamus]

Thailand declared a state of emergency in the capital on Wednesday after protesters stormed parliament, forcing government officials to flee by helicopter in an increasingly bold, four-week-old attempt to force elections. Skip related content
The red-shirted supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra retreated from parliament, but tens of thousands have remained in Bangkok's main shopping district since Saturday, defying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's orders to leave.

Protesters immediately threatened to challenge the decree, which gives the army broad powers, lets the authorities suspend certain civil liberties, bans public gatherings of more than five people and stops media reporting news that "causes panic."

"We will declare war," Arisman Pongruangrong, a protest leader, told supporters, urging followers in rural provinces to mass at city halls. "No more negotiations," he said.

The "red shirts" say that on Friday they will hold their biggest protest yet. But military checkpoints would be set up outside Bangkok to stop any from entering the city, Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on television late on Thursday.

Suthep said soldiers would be dispatched to guard key areas of Bangkok and warned protesters to leave. That came after Abhisit, operating out of a military compound doubling as a safe house, assured the public he would not use force.

"The government's goal is to help the situation return to a normal way of life, to maintain the sanctity of the law," he said in a televised statement hours after the siege of parliament.

The scene outside parliament was among the most chaotic and confrontational since the protests began on March 12.

Protesters massing outside the gates of the sprawling complex pressed up against a line of police in full riot gear. When some "red shirts" forced open the iron gate, police melted away and hundreds swarmed into the grounds, including dozens packed on a truck that drove through the main entrance.

They pressed up against security forces outside the lobby doors but left after about 20 minutes, only to regroup outside the gates, brandishing guns and tear gas canisters they said were seized in scuffles with military police.

Ministers had earlier held a cabinet meeting at parliament.

Some, including Abhisit, had left before the protesters broke through, but Suthep and several other ministers had to scale a wall in the compound and escape by military helicopter.

"We have achieved our mission today," Korkaew Pikulthong, a "red shirt" leader, told the crowd through a bullhorn.

Despite the tension, Thai stocks and the baht currency rose on confidence the government, with support from the military and the royalist establishment, would survive the showdown with the mostly rural and working class protesters.

"INTOLERABLE"

Foreign investors have been ploughing money into the fast-recovering economies of Southeast Asia and have not left Thailand out despite the turbulence. Since February 22, foreigners have bought a net $1.73 billion (1.13 billion pounds) of Thai stocks.

However, Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said prolonged protests could cause growth in the economy, Southeast Asia's second biggest, to be "significantly worse" than a government projection of 4.5 percent. And the unrest could also delay an expected interest rate rise.

Another month of protests, he said, "... would be intolerable, not only to the economy as a whole but for the sanity of Bangkokians."

Abhisit faces pressure from Bangkok's elite and middle class and even his own government to halt the rally, but has held back to avert a confrontation many believe would cause greater damage.

Threats to arrest the protesters have not been carried out, emboldening a movement that has tapped an undercurrent of frustration over a level of income disparity that ranks among Asia's widest, according to World Bank statistics..

Army chief Anupong Paojinda, who is central in Thailand's balance of power, said there was no justification to use force to disperse the crowds, an unidentified source told the Bangkok Post newspaper.

"We can't since it will cause losses," the source quoted Anupong as telling the prime minister. "They all are Thais."

The "red shirts" have taken aim at the urbane, 45-year-old Oxford-educated Abhisit, whom they see as a front man for an unelected elite and military intervening in politics and operating with impunity.

They say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. They want immediate elections that Thaksin's allies would be well placed to win.

They have won new support from Bangkok's urban poor but have angered middle classes, many of whom regard them as misguided slaves to Thaksin, a wily telecoms tycoon who fled into exile to avoid a jail term for graft.

Abhisit has offered to dissolve parliament in December, a year early. Hundreds of police guarded his home on Wednesday. He cancelled a trip to Washington next week to attend an international nuclear summit, although he planned to join a regional leaders summit in Hanoi on Thursday.

[TTChang]

Strictly four BMs together as we invaded Cascades tonight ... and I was the one with the red shirt  

Supposed to be flying out tomorrow - but who knows?!   And they say Songkran is crazy.  LOS = Land of Shambles, this week.  Nothing you'd notice in Nana, apart from trucks of red shirts occasionally flying the flag along Sukhumvit Road.

This State of emergency could mean nothing, of course, if the army & police continue their present 'up to you' approach.  Wouldn't happen anywhere else in the world IMO, and I'm not sure the thai people or Govt realise just how badly this reflects on the country.  But did they ever care what farangs think?!  

[PigDogg]

Red Shirts have a Coffee Red/FM 89 People Power area one block before u get to Tuk Com in Pattaya. Seemed peaceful enough at 1AM.

[TTChang]

As I'm leaving LOS today (?), i've sent out our roving reporter = that rascal Eyemahk.  Hopefully he will post some of his BKK photos  

[Chinaman]

(PigDogg @ Apr. 08 2010,01:45) Red Shirts have a Coffee Red/FM 89 People Power area one block before u get to Tuk Com in Pattaya.  Seemed peaceful enough at 1AM.

They actually seemed friendly and cheerful when I passed a bit before that.
Glad my loom is facing towards the other side, so no noise interference and Baklaboy and I could watch the Man U game. Unfortunately for BB, Bayern scored that one goal the needed to make it into the semifinals.

[Chinaman]

... and on Beach Road it was business as usual - or should I rather say business is very slow and deals are unusual ;-)

Interviewed one gg, BB and I had seen in the late afternoon when doing the sunset-walk. She said she would do everything and then went into details ...

Many nice lbs as well, but most have no phone at the time ...

Have to get some numbers so I can stay home over Songkran and order in :-)

[EyeMahk]

Had lunch with TTChang today (Thurs), then I took a ride to the red shirts protest site, the day after such gatherings were banned.  I went to the spot near the Erawan shrine, near Chit Lom BTS.  The road in front of Central World was blocked with protesters and a stage, and Rama I was also partially blocked.  No sign of "official" police, so it was as if this part of Bangkok was under complete control of red shirts.  I'd guess 1,000 people were there, They had a stage up and there was a guy talking about the need to restore democracy in Thailand.  Lots of talk about last years closing of BKK airport, and if he was alluding to the need for red shirts to do that this year, I missed it (although I am the first to admit that my Thai is not conversational when it comes to political speeches).

Frankly, nothing would really surprise me; I've spent enough time her to know it is a bit unpredictable.

Very hot today, so most people trying to stay in the shade, which is difficult since the stage is in the sun.  The stage was like that of a concert - I half expected Sek Loso or Bodyslam to come out and do a song!  Everything was pretty peaceful, lots of people queuing up for food and drink (ironic that they were passing out red kool-aid!)  Lots of "red" souvenirs for sale, I inquired about the price of a shirt and the guy told me it was free for me, but I had to wear it now.  I declined with a smile.  Everyone was friendly to me. Unprovoked, I expect these folks will be back home for Songkran, or when the money runs out (I did not see the place where the protesters get their money for being there, but I did see a woman collecting some tickets and telling them she would be back with some money).

I didn't see any LBs in the demonstrations - 1:00pm is a little too early, I think. After taking the pics, I took BTS to Victory Monument and caught the minibus to Pattaya.  (I'm posting these while riding to Pattaya!)

So here are the pics from 1:00pm today.

[EyeMahk]

Near the stage. Damn roadies, they put the fucking speakers in front of the banner!

[EyeMahk]

Some are staying in the shade.