One of the funniest pictures ever.
Posted on 04/05/2010 9:43:48 PM PDT by Cheap_Hessian
BANGKOK — Thousands of anti-government demonstrators clashed with Thai police and military troops trying to prevent them from leaving from the capital's commercial district Tuesday to stage protests elsewhere in Bangkok.
The demonstrators pushed against police lines and pelted the riot squads with eggs and plastic water bottles along a tree-lined boulevard near the Four Seasons Hotel.
Protest leaders have defied a government order to vacate the commercial heart of Bangkok as they try to pressure Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to relinquish power. They vowed Tuesday to stage convoys through 11 main city roads the administration has declared off-limits to them.
"We will teach the government a lesson — that every road belongs to the people," said one of the protest leaders, Nattawut Saikua.
(Excerpt) Read more at google.com ...
Hopefully I will be there next week. All this over the gov’t taxing
Thaksin after he changed the constitution to exempt himself.
This is his rent a mob.
I’m trying to figure out the complete situation here. Is the government in the wrong?
ping
At this point, I don’t think they are. However, they have not
moved toward a full restoration of democracy, largely due to the
thugish tactics of both their supporters and these supporters
of the ousted PM.
So, basically there is a lot of instability in the area. The way the protesters are described, at least in this article, makes them sound like a troublesome lot. I doubt we would like to see a volatile situation in the region where there is a significant muslim population.
the concentration of muslims is in the south
They should give them Pattani , Yala and Narithiwat , providing ALL muslims nationwide move down there , and they can destroy all the mosques that are cropping up everywhere else throughout the country .
Then build a West Bank style wall
as for the Reds , the Yellows and now the Pinks , they are all a bunch of pinheads . They are baiting the young soldiers into yet another horrendous slaughter , which will almost certainly occur and then the country will long remember and commemorate .
The Army should just take out all the so-called leaders and call it good . Offer the rest a lifetime supply of khao neo
if they will just go home .
The short answer is yes. The long answer... The current government was brought to power by events following the 2006 coup. A large number of individuals in the current government were active supporters of the group that took over Government House (the equivalent of the White house) for 200 days and shut down the international airports for 2 weeks. During that crisis, the opposition kept calling for new elections but after that were given power by the Army, dropped all election demands.
There are a number of tangent issues, but the current government has been unable to run the country and can't go a day without blaming all the problems in the country on former PM Thaksin (the one thrown out by the coup). Thaksin has been instrumental in creating the current protests but the issues go way beyond him.
The protesters are calling for parliament to be dissolved and an election to finally be held. The current government knows there is a very high chance of being thrown out so is dead set against it.
The two larger issues which aren't talked about much is who is going to be the next head of the Royal Thai Army and what is going to happen when Royal succession occurs. The Prime Minister appoints the head of the Army which will take place in about 6 months. The Army will do everything possible to keep the current government in place to insure the reshuffle goes according to their plans. (The current head of the Army was directly responsible for putting the current government in power.)
As for the succession issue, I am living in Thailand and can't talk about it at risk of being thrown in jail.
They have been incredibly peaceful (so far). The government had been giving daily reports to the media with outrageous claims that the protesters were planning on burning down Bangkok, etc... When it didn't happen the government backed off the violence claims in order to not appear anymore foolish than they already did.
Thanks! That is great information.
Be careful about what you read in the news about happenings here. Same spin that is happening the the states. I live in central Thailand and other than a few new Police check points on the freeways nothing has changed.
I know both BKK Redshirt supporters and few Yellow supporters, Very similar to the strife's between Liberals and Conservatives in the States.
A little clue is a statement from the Yellows that Rural people are not intellectually capable of voting.
Killjoy being close to it has a good grasp on the Political situation here.
One of the funniest pictures ever.
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