What IS The Latest News On Red Shirts

[Flashermac]

Arson costs Centre One 1 billion baht

 

 

1:31pm

 

 

The damage caused by fire at Centre One at Victory Monument could be as high as one billion baht, Rattapol Kraijirachote, the shopping mall’s managing director, said today.

 

“More than 1,000 workers of about 300 shops inside Centre One will be jobless due to the arson attackâ€Â, Mr Rattapol stated.

 

The shopping centre was set ablaze by rioters yesterday and only this morning were fire fighters able to keep the fire under control.

 

 

 

True democracy

[Guest lazyphil]

yep, shop workers are part of the elite.

[drogon]

Flashermac, this is true democracy -> if the reds continue then there will be plenty more Thais who find themselves jobless, therefore equality will be

attained for most Thais as they will all be jobless and poor Q.E.D

(of course the rich reds and yellows aren't included)

 

All the "Bangkok elites" working at these shopping centers and other businesses will now go back satangless to Isaan and other provinces?

[Wallenda]

^Siam Theatre I believe?

 

A very sad sight

 

Is this the one with the big curved staircase, sort of old time movie palace style? That would suck. I remember being in town once when they were doing a red carpet having international film stars enter this place, with limos pulling up, paparazzi flashes going off, BKK Film Fest I believe. If it is indeed the place.

 

Echoes of Taliban.

 

[ThaiHome]

But on the other side of the coin, the red TV was doing nothing that Rush Limbaugh and his ilk are doing in the States (i.e., inciting hate, spreading demonstrable lies and seditious talk) and nothing seems to happen to them.

 

Just where do you draw the line? I'm not really sure either.

 

I think the red TV went quite a bit further then even Rush and his ilk go. They would not have been able to get away with something like Arisman’s Burn Bangkok speech.

"...Brothers, if you know that a crackdown is imminent, next time bring an empty bottle here and refill it with 75 cc - 1 liter of gasoline. If one million of us blast through Bangkok with one million liter of gasoline, I guarantee you that Bangkok will be drown in a sea of fire!

 

*Cheering*

 

This is our way to let the soldiers, the lap dogs of the aristocrats, know that if a single drop of the Redshirts' blood spills, Bangkok will instantly become the sea of fire!...""

 

 

I just saw that the government is now saying Arisman is not in custody. He has got to be shit scared, with that clip and pictures from yesterday, he is toast. (no pun intended)

TH

 

[Flashermac]

Tourism sector loss put at B120bn

 

1:10pm

 

 

The red-shirts' anti-government rally could cause the tourism sector about 120 billion baht in lost revenue, chairman of Federation of Thai Tourism Industries Kongkrish Hiranyakij said on Thursday afternoon.

 

“The political turmoil will drive away foreign tourists. The number of foreign arrivals this year is expected to drop by 10 per cent to between 12.7 million and 14.1 million,†Mr Kongkrish said.

 

The number of foreign tourists was expected to be down by 20 per cent in the second and third quarters of the year, bringing projected revenue down from 600 billion baht to only 480 billion baht this year, he said.

 

The tourism sector lost a total of 100 billion baht revenue last year, caused by the seizure of Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports by the People’s Alliance for Democracy in late 2008.

 

 

 

Rink

[Mekong]

[

 

Is this the one with the big curved staircase, sort of old time movie palace style? That would suck. I remember being in town once when they were doing a red carpet having international film stars enter this place, with limos pulling up, paparazzi flashes going off, BKK Film Fest I believe. If it is indeed the place.

 

Echoes of Taliban.

 

The very same place

[Flashermac]

Munitions found at rally site

 

4:58pm

 

 

Explosives, firebombs and several M16 assault rifles and ammunition were found at the Ratchaprasong rally site as security forces search the area, the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) said in national broadcast on Thursday afternoon.

 

The announcement came after police and forensic officials went there to look for evidence that could point to sabotage by the anonymous gunmen dressed in black.

 

Director of the National Institute of Forensic Science Khunying Porntip Rojanasunant said the initial inspection of Wat Pathumwanaram showed the six bodies discovered there were shot from a distance.

 

It was still unknown who fired the lethal shots, she said.

 

Khunying Porntip said the investigation was continuing.

 

 

 

Rink

[Flashermac]

Mob surrounds police at monument

 

 

3:24pm

 

 

More than 100 anti-government protesters surrounded a team of a policemen deployed to Victory Monument on Thursday afternoon, reports said.

 

The demonstrators said they were concerned for their safety, claiming two of the policemen were armed.

 

They booed and rudely abused the police, and said they would remain at Victory Monument in defiance of the government's 9pm to 5am curfew.

 

At Bon Kai area on Rama IV Road, troops removed wire and barricades set up by the protesters. Workmen also repaired damaged electricity transformers in the area.

 

 

 

BP

 

 

[Flashermac]

Bangkok in flames after army storms protest camp

 

 

By DENIS D. GRAY

 

 

 

BANGKOK (AP) - Buildings blazed across central Bangkok early Thursday, torched by rioters after army troops routed anti-government protesters to end a two-month siege - Thailand's deadliest political violence in nearly 20 years.

 

The government quelled most of the violence in Bangkok but not the underlying political divisions that caused it, and unrest spread to northern parts of Thailand.

 

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva imposed a nighttime curfew in the capital and 23 other provinces and said his government would restore calm. Although leaders of the Red Shirt demonstrators surrendered, sporadic clashes between troops and remaining protesters continued well after dark.

 

Bangkok's skyline was blotted by black smoke from more than two dozen buildings set ablaze - including Thailand's stock exchange, main power company, banks, a movie theater and one of Asia's largest shopping malls.

 

At least six people were killed in clashes that followed the army's storming of the protest camp Wednesday. Witnesses said another six to eight bodies were in a temple where hundreds of demonstrators, including women and children, had sought sanctuary.

 

Since the Red Shirts began their protest in mid-March, at least 74 people - mostly civilians - have been killed and nearly 1,800 wounded. Of those, 45 people have died in clashes that started May 13 after the army tried to blockade their 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) camp.

 

[color:red]While many of the rioters were believed to be members of the Red Shirts and their sympathizers, there was also an element of criminals and young hoodlums involved in the mayhem in the city of 10 million people.[/color]

 

The protest and violence in one of Southeast Asia's most stable countries has damaged its economy and tourism industry.

 

With the top Red Shirt leaders in custody, it was unclear what the next move would be for the protesters who had demanded the ouster of the prime minister's government, the dissolution of parliament and new elections. The protesters, many of them poor farmers or members of the urban underclass, say Abhisit came to power illegitimately and is oblivious to their plight.

 

The crackdown should silence the large number of government supporters who were urging a harder line, and the rioting that followed may extinguish the widespread sympathy many had for the protesters' cause.

 

But that same violence also showed a serious intelligence lapse by the military, and the failure to secure areas of the capital raised doubt over how any unrest in the protesters' heartland of the north and northeast can be stilled.

 

Many Thais feel that any short-term peace may have been purchased at the price of further polarization that will lead to years of bitter, cyclical conflict.

 

"The Reds rampaged and committed to armed resistance," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political scientist from Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University. "Right now, they are just burning buildings, but later on, what if they picked up arms to fight the bureaucrats, security forces in other parts of Bangkok, and especially in the countryside? So this is just the beginning. The crackdown didn't make them retreat fully. Things will get much worse still."

 

Thitinan said the government will need to seek a political settlement. "The problem now is that who does the government talk to?" he said.

 

Some point to former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and fled into exile before being sentenced to two years in prison for corruption. The government has accused him of bankrolling the protests and refuses to make any deals with him until he comes back to serve his sentence.

 

The crackdown began soon after dawn Wednesday, as hundreds of troops with M-16s and shotguns converged on the Red Shirts' camp, where nearby high-end malls and hotels have been shuttered by the prolonged protest.

 

Armored vehicles crashed through barricades of piled tires and bamboo stakes, and soldiers then gradually moved toward the protesters' hub, opening fire with live ammunition and drawing return fire from militant Red Shirts, according to Associated Press reporters at the scene.

 

Bullets flew and several grenades exploded near the soldiers, forcing them to pull back briefly before pushing forward.

 

Among the dead was an Italian photographer. A Canadian freelance reporter was wounded by shrapnel and a reporter for the British newspaper The Independent was shot in the leg. Two other journalists were wounded earlier - one Dutchman and an American documentary filmmaker.

 

The unrest spread outside Bangkok, with Thai media reporting that protesters set fire to government offices in the city of Udon Thani and vandalized a city building in Khon Kaen. Udon Thani's governor asked the military to intervene.

 

TV reports also showed troops retreating after being attacked by mobs in Ubon Ratchathani, and more unrest was reported in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Thailand's third-largest.

 

After protest leaders surrendered, their enraged followers scattered to other parts of the city to set fires, and some looting was reported.

 

One of the most striking images was gray smoke pouring from Bangkok's landmark CentralWorld shopping mall. One of Southeast Asia's largest shopping complexes, it measured 550,000 square meters (5.9 million square feet) and its total retail area was 1 million square meters (11 million square feet) - about twice as big as the giant Mall of America in Minnesota.

 

Firefighters trying to douse the flames at some of the buildings were forced to retreat for several hours because of gunfire.

 

Thailand's stock exchange will be closed for the rest of the week after the building's ground floor was set on fire, according to its president, Patareeya Benjapolchai.

 

She told the AP that the exchange, where about $600 million of shares change hands each day, may reopen Monday. The central bank, meanwhile, said all financial institutions in Bangkok, including commercial banks, would be shut Thursday and Friday.

 

Cabinet minister Satit Vongnongteay described the chaos as anticipated "aftershocks" of the crackdown.

 

Rioters also turned their rage on the local media, which has been accused of pro-government coverage. They attacked the offices of state-run Channel 3, setting fire to cars outside and puncturing water pipes that flooded the building.

 

"At Channel 3 need urgent help from police, soldiers!!!" tweeted news anchor Patcharasri Benjamasa. "News cars were smashed and they are about to invade the building."

 

The building was set on fire, but its staff fled to safety. The English-language Bangkok Post newspaper evacuated its staff over fears of an attack.

 

Abhisit said in a televised address Wednesday night that troops had been given the go-ahead to shoot suspected arsonists. A 10-hour curfew took effect in Bangkok and other provinces at 8 p.m., and the government said army operations would continue through the night. Another announcement said captured arsonists and "terrorists" could face capital punishment.

 

It is the first time that Bangkok has been put under curfew since 1992, when the army killed dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators seeking the ouster of a military-backed government in a crisis now know as "Black May."

 

"Tonight is going to be another worrisome night," government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.

 

Authorities also imposed a partial media blackout on local TV stations, saying all of them would have to show government-prepared bulletins.

 

Seven top Red Shirt leaders surrendered Wednesday, saying they could not stand seeing their supporters being killed.

 

"Brothers and sisters, I'm sorry I cannot see you off the way I welcomed you all when you arrived here. But please be assured that our hearts will always be with you," Nattawut Saikua, a key leader, said as he was arrested. "Please return home."

 

Somyot Pruksakasemsuk, another Red Shirt leader, said the movement would go on despite the day's events.

 

"This is not the end," he said. "It will spread further and the situation will deteriorate. Initially, independent mass movements in Bangkok and other provinces will begin, then riots will ensue. This will be done by individuals, not by protest leaders. The crowds will reunite soon."

 

 

 

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