Article

2008-06-19 Southeast Asia

Four killed in blast, ambush in Thai Muslim south

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Posted by ryuge 2008-06-19 04:47|| || Front Page|| [5 views ] Top
File under: Thai Insurgency

#1 Well, the unrest in the South of Thailand is likely to pick up - because the Thai government is going to be preoccupied with trying to survive over the next week.

As a resident of Bangkok, it appears to me likely that major civil unrest is about to break out here in the government center. The political opposition is planning to launch a concerted effort tomorrow - 20 June - to topple the current government, which is led by the People Power Party.

Posted by Lone Ranger 2008-06-19 10:05|| 2008-06-19 10:05|| Front Page Top

#2 Why the sudden crisis, Lone Ranger?

Posted by trailing wife">trailing wife 2008-06-19 10:25|| 2008-06-19 10:25|| Front Page Top

#3 Maybe this? Bangkok Post...

Friday showdown: PAD v police

"If they try to break through using flag poles, baseball bats or other objects they will be regarded as using weapons... Police will take action according to international crowd control principles." - Pol Maj-Gen Surapol Thuanthong, deputy police spokesman

Police said on Thursday they will not allow protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy move to Government House or parliament on Friday. The PAD said it would push forward with its plans to move its rally from the Makkhawan Rangsan Bridge early on Friday afternoon, and defied the police to arrest its leaders.

Core PAD organiser Maj-Gen Chamlong said the group had every right to move to Government House, but promised no one would go inside - "even if gates may be open for us. Our aim is not to lay siege to Government House but to show our force," At Government House, a siege mentality set it. Non-essential workers were told to take Friday off, and other workers were warned not to park their cars in the compound. All schools in the area of Government House were ordered shut for Friday.

Investors were spooked. The Stock Exchange index fell more than 20 points in morning trade, and the baht dropped by 0.5 per cent, more than any regional currency. It was trading at noon at 33.41 per dollar and still falling, the lowest point of the year.

Pol Maj-Gen Surapol said police would definitely not allow PAD protesters to move to Government House, and said officers would be prepared to use force to stop them. He did not give details but referred to "international crowd control principles," presumably including riot police and tear gas. He said police try to negotiate with the PAD leaders before any show of force. Starting this evening, police will set up barricades on major roads in the area around the current PAD protest: Phitsanulok, Ratchasima, Rama V, Sri Ayutthaya and Ratchadamnern. Every move by the PAD will be photographed and videotaped, Pol Maj-Gen Surapol said.

Maj-Gen Chamlong, who has been the leading figure in the current protest, stopped short of saying what the PAD will do, but insisted he would not be pushed backwards. "We have appointed a second batch of leaders to continue with the rally in case we are arrested," he said.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said he believed police are still able to contain the PAD rally and that it is not yet necessary to ask for help from the military. The situation is not yet so serious that the Internal Security Operations Command must step in, said Mr Samak, who is director of the Isoc. He also said that police can control the situation, and that there is no need for the military to step in.

But the premier was clearly angry at the PAD insistence on taking to the streets again, in a city where traffic already is being held up on street after street by protests. "Why are they doing this? Don't they realise how much the country is damaged by the rallies?" he asked reporters rhetorically on Thursday. "I don't understand why the PAD has announced that they will take over Government House. There is no reason. Was the election illegal? There were voters who cast their votes, the government was installed and took the royal oath. Is the government illegal? We are not street gangsters."

Posted by tu3031 2008-06-19 12:54|| 2008-06-19 12:54|| Front Page Top

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