Red Shirt Protest Over

[Scumbag]

Demonstrators will disperse: leader

 

Red-shirts core leader Veera Musikhapong announced an end to the current anti-government protest in Bangkok on Tuesday morning as hundreds of soldiers surrounded the Government House camp where the remaining demonstrators had gathered.

 

Mr Veera said the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) agreed to end the rally because they were worried about the safety of the protesters.

 

"This does not mean that we loose," he told the protesters, some of whom appeared to be angry with the decision.

 

Weng Tojirakarn, another core leader, said the UDD would continue its opposition to the government through the international stage.

 

About 2,000 protesters remained at the only rally site in Bangkok, according to army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

 

The decision to disband was announced half an hour after Col Sansern said in a nationalised television broadcast that red-shirt protesters blocked traffic at 15 locations in Bangkok early on Tuesday, but soldiers and police were able to control the situation.

 

"The situation at all locations has eased," Col Sansern said, including Uruphong and Yommarat intersections and Victory Monument.

 

The protest was now confined to Government House where there about 2,000 protesters, he said.

 

He said there were two attacks on soldiers in Bangkok overnight. One soldier was seriously wounded.

 

Two men on a motorcycle opened fire at a military check point near Mahboonkrong shopping centre at 11.30pm on Monday, criticially wounding one soldier. He was being treated at an emergency unit at Police Hospital.

 

About 2.45am Tuesday a group of men in a pickup fired at soldiers at Thukchai intersection. There were no injuries.

 

Col Sansern attributed the attacks to "ill-intentioned people trying to create unrest in the country".

[petermik]

Until the next time??????????????

[Al.]

Ok maybe the "Battle for Bangkok" is over but I don't think that will be the end of it. I just hope the don't resort to terrorist tactics and start planting bombs all over the place.

 

Al.

[Scumbag]

The BBC is reporting that the leaders will be arrested and prosecuted. I guess that will cause the government problems since no yellow shirts were prosecuted even though arrest warrants were issued.

[pyrolover]

I'm not so sure it's over yet.....I think this is just a cooling off period that will give the UDD time to re-group with a new plan.

[Al.]

The BBC is reporting that the leaders will be arrested and prosecuted. I guess that will cause the government problems since no yellow shirts were prosecuted even though arrest warrants were issued.

 

What he said

Edited April 14, 2009 by Al.

[farang1]

It seems to me that the government's swift action is what brought these disturbances to an end. The last time the government did nothing, and this only encouraged the anarchists. If the perpetrators of riots fear swift action, this will deter them from the type of behavior that shut down the BKK airport some months ago.

[hazze]

Maybe its the leaders trying to protect their own arses.

They call of the protests for now. But if the governement takes action against them then the potenial remains for the protests to resume.

 

Will be interesting to see what they try next. I can't see that the whole movement is over. THey've just backed down from these types of action for the moment.

[swarsymphony]

tottaly agree with you....since its the lack of fear which causes these unrests..

[barney]

It seems to me that the government's swift action is what brought these disturbances to an end. The last time the government did nothing,

You seem to be missing the point that the people who shut down the airport are the people now in government (after getting a democratically elected government thrown out)......

[Dog Face]

Thank Buddha this mess is over for now. I just hope things stay somewhat "normal" until 10 May, the day I leave.

[caltexman]

Calm before the storm if you ask me!!

 

No way this is over.

[Grumpy]

As of last night my Brother and Sister in-law are moving my mother in-law out of Bangkok to Lop Buri until things calm down. She's really freaked out about everything that's going on. I made a joke about cheap plane tickets and she about bit my head off.

 

Seems some Thais are not quite so confident that this is over and not a big deal.

[SlickMonkey]

They are mostly taking a Songkran Break. Its hard to organize protest during a majory Thai holiday. They will be back.

[PRPlaya]

A break is a break, at least for people like me, that can fly into LOS this week. I do believe they made the "paused" for Songkran, like somebody forgot all about it.

[wimpy]

Like other people have said. it's over for now but there is still an unelected Government in power. A Government that won't call an election because it will lose. It's a terrible situation, the fact that elected Governments get ousted because the Bangkok elite don't like them.

Unfortunately Democracy doesn't work the way it should in Thailand. In fact Thailand shouldn't call itself a democracy, shame.

[Dog Face]

The real player in these issues is the king. He likes the yellow shirts (the faction that closed the airport last year) more than the red shirts, and the red shirts really don't have much of a chance as long as the king's alive. When the king dies, all hell may break loose. We may need to find someplace else to go on holiday for a few years. The Philippines, maybe?