Obstacles Facing Thai Reconciliation – The Irrawaddy
May 24th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18536
BANGKOK – The brutality seen on the streets of Bangkok in recent days is unlikely to be forgotten quickly, irrespective of the ‘mai pen rai’ thinking that many panglossian observers attribute to Thai culture.
Thai society is divided, and animosity now runs deep. Redshirts and the pro-Government supporters have plenty of accusations they can level at each other. Some are justifiable, but then both sides have peddled plenty of half-truths about themselves and the other.
Destruction behind the Buddhist harmony (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
The redshirts can depict the Government and Army as assassins who fired on unarmed protestors. They can say that the Army supports an unelected Government, which it previously helped slip into power. The Government and yellowshirts can describe the redshirts as violent protestors, as they sheltered or tolerated a violent black-clad militia. And they can point out that these men laid waste to dozens of buildings when they failed to get their way. (more…)
Land of Snarls? – Eureka Street/RTÉ World Report/Sunday Business Post
May 23rd, 2010
http://eurekastreet.com.au/article.aspx?aeid=21477
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0523/worldreport.html
http://www.thepost.ie/news/world/battle-for-bangkok-reaches-an-end-but-divisions-remain-49407.html
Not looking so Gucci these days. Downtown Bangkok, Friday May 21. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
BANGKOK – Standing this morning amid the burnt-out ruins of southeast Asia’s second biggest shopping mall right in the heart of Bangkok, it has become clear that the ‘Land of Smile’s has become – for now at least – a land of snarls.
Although some media have been accused of hyping-up the situation – or of being oblivious to the fact that the rest of Thailand has not yet been embroiled in the surreal violence hitting Bangkok in recent weeks – what took place in the capital in recent days was unprecedented and brutal. Not least on the media – with 2 journalists dead since April 10, injuries running into double-figures, and talk of reporters being deliberately-targetted.
Over 50 people – mostly civilians – are now dead and hundreds have been wounded. Amid an increasingly polarised political situation, the uncompromising quashing of the anti-Government redshirt rally by the Thai Army may have sown the seeds for more conflict later on.
The redshirts can point to the government and Army as brutal killers, firing on unarmed protestors and acting to support an unelected Government, which they previously helped manoeuvre into power. The Government and yellowshirts (anti-redshirt protestors who took to the streets in 2006 and 2008 while redshirt parties were in Government) can point out that the redshirts were not peaceful protestors, that they sheltered or tolerated a violent black-clad armed faction, and that they laid waste to the shopping heartland of the city when they failed to get their way. (more…)
Redshirts leave, but resolution unlikely soon – The Irrawaddy/Fox News
May 20th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18516
BANGKOK – “We will be back”, said a quietly-defiant sounding Chompoo Nutch, sitting halfway down a rickety red bus
Happy to go home? Redshirts leaving from the National Stadium today. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
bound for Bangkok’s main train station, from where she and some of the last remaining redshirt protestors in Bangkok will make their way home.
Dozens of buses filled up with evacuees from the main Rajaprasong rally site in central Bangkok, and by 2pm today twenty awaited clearance to move off. Some are bound for towns and cities to the north and east of Bangkok.
Whether or not the redshirts wull be back in Bangkok soon remains to be seen. With core leaders mostly in police custody right now, where the movement goes from here is open to question. When its leadership announced to the crowd yesterday that they were giving themselves up, saying that the rally was over, some protestors reacted angrily. Soon after, the shopping malls under which the protestors made the encampment in recent weeks were ablaze. Hardcore militants continued to fight the advancing Thai soldiers a kilometer away from the main rally stage. Grenades started to land on Ratchadamri Road and in Lumpini Park minutes after the redshirt leaders announced that the rally was over. A group of around 40 reporters, including this correspondent, were pinned down as the Thai army fired back, close to Sarasin Junction. A Canadian freelance reporter was seriously injured by shrapnel during the exchange of fire.
The redshirt movement appears divided, and the prospect of a negotiated settlement with the Government has caused ructions within the leadership for at least two weeks now. (more…)
Bangkok Eyewitness: Hardcore protestors run amok as army moves in – The Irrawaddy/Fox News/CBS News/RTÉ/Todayfm/Newstalk
May 19th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18503&Submit=Submit
http://video.foxnews.com/v/4202801/bangkok-burns-after-protest-leaders-surrender (Video)
http://www.newstalk.ie/news/news-headlines/bangkok-standoff-comes-to-an-end/
http://audio.todayfm.com/1238182.wav – Audio file (Lunchtime news)
http://audio.todayfm.com/0850450.wav – Audio file (Morning report)
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0519/news1pm.html
BANGKOK – The Thai army launched a final crackdown on the main redshirt protest area today, leading to the surrender of the main protest leaders. Redshirt leaders told protesters at the group’s rally site in Bangkok of their intention to surrender to police, and asked the protesters to evacuate the site and return home. This provoked anger among a hardcore group of armed militants. These have fought on, burning the shopping malls under which the reds have sheltered at their main protest site since earlier today.
Captured redshirts at Ratchadamri, taken as reporters took cover from grenade and gunfire (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Earlier, burnt out piles of tyres were pulled away by trucks and bullzozers after armed personnel carriers ramped over and through the barricades. Journalists following events were penned in by crossfire at Ratchadamri, after statements by militants that reporters would be targetted. Journalists at Bangkok Post said they were evacuating their building following threats from the redshirts.
After an Italian reporter was shot dead, a Canadian journalist was wounded by shrapnel from a m79 grenade which appeared to come from the protestor side, landing less than 20 m away from this correspondent. 2 soldiers were injured, just moments after they posed for cameras holding weaponry found in the areas of the encampment which the redshirts retreated from. (more…)
Thai army moves in for the kill – ISN
May 19th, 2010
Much of central Bangkok is a no-go area after recent street fighting. A senate mediation proposal has fallen flat, and this morning the Thai army is moving in on the main protest site.
Soldiers on the lookout at protestors back down the Rama 4 road. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
By Simon Roughneen in Bangkok for ISN Security Watch
As deadly clashes continue in central Bangkok, another proposed mediation effort has gone awry.Thai senators offered to act as go-betweens in the hope that this would bring the government and the redshirts back to the table. The redshirts welcomed this, after exiled de facto leader Thaksin Shinawatra called for UN intervention and asked the government to rein in the army. However, the government says it will not talk to the redshirt leaders – most of whom face terrorism charges – until the thousands of demonstrators leave the downtown shopping and hotel area they have occupied for six weeks. (more…)
Dramatic intervention needed to quell Bangkok fighting – The Daily Mail/The Casual Truth/Crikey/BBC Ulster
May 18th, 2010
http://www.thecasualtruth.com/story/war-violence-streets-bangkok
BANGKOK – Three hours after a Government deadline to vacate their campsite in the middle of Bangkok’s glossiest shopping and hotel district, anti-Government ‘redshirt’ protestors remained defiant. “I’m here for democracy”, said Peter Siriya, a 33 year old from Samutpakarn Province. Like many of the other redshirts, he comes from up country, and says he is disgusted by the recent bloodshed in Bangkok.
Protestors fire basic home-made weapons at Thai troops on Bangkok's Rama 4 road. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
36 people have died since last Thursday in street fighting at a number of locations around the main rally site. The redshirts have set up another stage on a highway beyond the main area, countering the army’s drive to blockade the main rally area. (more…)
3pm deadline looms as death toll rises – The Irrawaddy/RTÉ News at One/Newstalk Breakfast Show
May 17th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=18481
http://www.rte.ie/news/2010/0517/news1pm.html
http://irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/world/bullets-fly-in-battlefield-bangkok-457889.html
Most of the women have so far decided against leaving the rally site. Some are making the move back home however. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
BANGKOK – “I’m going home, back to Chiang Rai”, said one redshirt, refusing to give her name, as she wheeled her suitcase along under the shelter of a rail overpass running over the main rally stage. By Sunday evening, a small number of the estimated 5000 protestors had left, with more heading for the Red Cross-managed sanctuary established at a nearby Buddhist temple.
The Thai Government wants redshirt protestors to evacuate their main rally site at Rajaprasong by 3pm Monday. But as street fighting leaves 35 dead it is unclear whether or not the bulk of women and children at the Rajaprasong rally site will leave. Redshirt leaders have said that the protestors can leave the site. The Thai PM has defended the crackdown, despite the death toll so far, putting the blame for the violence on the redshirts. Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that “If the protesters will not end the situation, we will have to enter the encampment.”
Pointing up at what she says are army snipers prowling the roof of a nearby high-rise, Manissa, who says she works at Bumrungrad Hospital, scoffed at the thought of leaving. “I’m staying here, and I think most people will. We’re here 2 months now”. Back at the rally area, a mostly female crowd, many middle-aged and above, listened and cheered as speeches were given in the draining 85% humidity and 35 degree heat.
Most of the men seem to be at the frontiers of the protest site, clashing with soldiers as gunfire and explosions rang out across the city. Some have pushed the boundaries, literally. (more…)
Smoke over Bangkok as fighting continues – Sunday Business Post/Fox News
May 15th, 2010
http://www.sbpost.ie/news/world/death-toll-still-rising-as-bangkok-protests-continue-49245.html
BANGKOK – By Saturday afternoon eighteen people had died in three days of street fighting at various locations across the sprawling capital. Plumes of smoke rose over high-rise hotels and offices, as gunfire and explosions were heard at a number of fronts around the commercial center of the city. The Thai Government declared certain locations as ‘live fire’ zones, saying that the army could not guarantee the security of people present.
After series of shooting and explosions on Sat. afternoon, protestors run out to taunt the troops from behind the smokescreen. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
On Saturday afternoon soldiers shot at protestors on the Rama IV highway, after grenades exploded close to a Thai boxing stadium, where soldiers sheltered at the roadside. This correspondent was among a group of journalists scurrying for cover amid the maelstrom. A Canadian reporter working for France 24 was seriously wounded by army fire during the previous day’s street fighting, after a Japanese cameraman working for Reuters was shot dead during deadly April 10 clashes, when the army last tried to disperse the two-month old demonstration. Shooting continued sporadically at the flashpoint, with protestors rolling burning tyres at the army lines. (more…)
Bullets over Bangkok – The Irrawaddy/CBS Radio
May 15th, 2010
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=18478
BANGKOK – Thailand’s capital has been a warzone since late Thursday night, as soldiers and police do battle with redshirt protestors on some of the main thoroughfares in the heart of the city. 16 people have been confirmed killed and 157 injured during clashes that are speading across the city.
Redshirts crouch as shots ring out close to Chulalongkorn Hospital on Saturday afternoon. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
Since an as-yet unexplained hit on controversial Major-General Khattiya, known by his nom de guerre Seh Daeng, on Thursday evening, the combat zone has widened to take in new flashpoints across the city. The Rama IV highway has been blocked off, as redshirts try to stop soldiers from moving up the road to get closer to the main protest area. After bus-burnings early on Friday, soldiers and protestors clashed into the night and on Saturday morning. (more…)
Population Control in the Philippines – NC Register
May 13th, 2010
http://www.ncregister.com/register_exclusives/population_control_in_the_philippines/
Wrangle Over Legislation set to roll on After Election
Mass at Greenbelt, Makati City. (Photo: Simon Roughneen)
MANILA – It is 6pm in Greenbelt, one of Manila’s high-end shopping malls. Elsewhere, commuters are stopping-off for a post-work coffee or browsing through the array of boutique names next door to the chapel. But bang-in-the-middle of the mall, a dome-shaped part-open church is packed for evening Mass – one of four celebrated there each day. Passers-by genuflect or bless themselves, gingerly laying down their shopping as they pause on their way.
Out of 92 million people, 85 percent of Filipinos are Catholic, and the country is well-known for eye-catching displays of public devotion. During the election season, daily vigils and prayer services were held all over the country. Inside the election commission hq, statues of the Virgin Mary and posters exhorting the recitation of novenas sat between nuts-and-bolts election information for parties, voters, candidates and media.
An ongoing battle over a ‘Reproductive Health’ Bill looks set to roll on into the new administration. Winning Presidential ticket Benigno ‘Noynoy’ Aquino III opposes the Church position on the bill. At time of writing, with 90% of votes counted, Aquino had 40% % , with former President Estrada, who also backs the RH bill, second on 25%. Early front-runner and business billionaire Manny Villar finished a distant third on 11%. He publicly-backed the Church’s take on RH, but well before he spoke out his popularity was on the slide due to corruption allegations. (more…)
