Tosser of The Year!

[chuckwoww]

Sad and disturbed sure but he went a step too far threatening arson. I'm sure they'd like to just get rid of him but he put himself in a different league with that.

[acockasian]

 

Mental issues! Pretty obvious flame there.

 

Why don't you come right out and say Red Shirt supporter!

 

 

 

ACA' date='

 

Your comment was also a flame, as much as I disagree with the methods employed by the majority of Red Shirts it was / is still their democratic right to protest, and their voice was being heard.

 

I belive that the incidents that happened from April 10 onwards were the work of a Radical element rather than the majority, and to label all Red Shirts as having mental issues is akin to labeling all British expats as shave headed tattooed lager lout football hooligans.

 

Admittedly such exists amongst both groups but it does not represent the norm.

 

There are unsubstantiated rumours going around that Jeff Savage was exposed to situations non of us would wish to see during his tour of duty in Bosnia and UK MOD washed their hands of him and put him on medication with invalidity payments.

 

Maybe we should all await the full facts before passing judgement. [/quote']

 

Thais have a right to protest in Thailand as it is their country.

 

The Tosser was, I thought, from the UK.

 

Not his right, not his country, not his fight.

[Flashermac]

Read the users' comments on the Bangkok Post. There are some unbelievable morons ranting and raving both pro- and anti-red shirts, and they don't know shit from Shinola about the situation. Absolute garbage from people who think they are experts because they've lived here a couple of year (usually in Pattaya).

[limbo]

 

Mental issues! Pretty obvious flame there.

 

Why don't you come right out and say Red Shirt supporter!

 

 

 

You do indeed have a right to protest if you go through the right channels' date=' get permission for marches etc.

 

The Red Shirt protest by closing off areas of Bangkok and having their own security check points was highly illegal, as it would be anywhere in the world.

 

ACA,

 

Your comment was also a flame, as much as I disagree with the methods employed by the majority of Red Shirts it was / is still their democratic right to protest, and their voice was being heard.

 

I belive that the incidents that happened from April 10 onwards were the work of a Radical element rather than the majority, and to label all Red Shirts as having mental issues is akin to labeling all British expats as shave headed tattooed lager lout football hooligans.

 

Admittedly such exists amongst both groups but it does not represent the norm.

 

There are unsubstantiated rumours going around that Jeff Savage was exposed to situations non of us would wish to see during his tour of duty in Bosnia and UK MOD washed their hands of him and put him on medication with invalidity payments.

 

Maybe we should all await the full facts before passing judgement. [/quote']

 

Thais have a right to protest in Thailand as it is their country.

 

The Tosser was, I thought, from the UK.

 

Not his right, not his country, not his fight.

 

[Wallenda]

it was / is still their democratic right to protest, and their voice was being heard.

 

I guess the question is, what are the limits of what you can do as protest?

 

Even if you attribute the worst things (violent attacks, destruction of property, looting, etc.) to a radical element, I dont' think in any country a group of people would be allowed to protest by taking over a commercial district for 2 months, erect stages on city streets with no permission, just to name a few things which the entire group was participating in.

 

Anyway, this is a whole other topic debated plenty elsewhere -- no need to here.

 

[Coss]

>>>I guess the question is, what are the limits of what you can do as protest? .....

 

You turn up, wave your flags and signs, shout a bit, cause some triffic traffic congestion, and then go home.

 

Oh and if your'e part of the Green/Anti Big Business/Global Warming/etc movement, you may wear multi coloured pantaloons, not wash, be unattractive, dance and beat bongo drums.

 

That's protest.

 

 

 

[LizardKing]

Oh fer fuck's sake! Jailed Aussie 'braved bullets' for Thai peace. Now he's pretending to be a hero.

 

Once again, not nearly as bad as the English tosser, still highly inappropriate behaviour (video of one of his speeches is at the link). I hope they do not jail him, just throw him out and blacklist him.

[Flashermac]

I don't know what those ... things ... are protesting, but I'm on the opposite side!

 

 

[chuckwoww]

Any more of these guys and there'll be enough for the Farang Party.

[Mekong]

Briton faces jail or execution for inciting Thai redshirts to torch mall

 

A Briton arrested in Thailand faces years in jail, or even a death sentence, for urging redshirt rioters to burn down a shopping centre.

 

Jeff Savage, a 48-year-old married man, originally from Tonbridge in Kent, has been accused by Thailand's prime minister of being a long-time member of the anti-government redshirt movement and a key agitator in the riots which saw swaths of the capital burn last week.

 

In his first prison interview since being arrested on Sunday, Savage, who has lived in Thailand for nine years, told the Guardian he was being fitted up for crimes he did not commit. He denied he was involved in burning down the Central World shopping centre in the heart of Bangkok's shopping district.

 

"I am being stitched up, being fitted up. I thought it was just for overstaying my visa, but now this is serious," Savage said from behind bars in Bangkok remand prison.

 

"They are trying to pin a whole lot of stuff on me, and a few others … that we had nothing to do with. We are being made scapegoats."

 

Key in inspiring the allegations against Savage is a video shot during the chaotic final days of the redshirts' protest, now circulating on YouTube. In it, he is seen dressed in a bandanna and carrying a stick, exhorting protesters to set fire to the shopping centre, in the middle of the reds' protest site.

 

"We're gonna smash the fucking Central [World] plaza to shit. We're gonna steal everything out of it and burn the fucker down. Trust me, get pictures of that fucker. We're gonna loot everything, gold, watches, everything, and then we're gonna burn it to the ground," he says in the video, shot just days before the shopping centre was torched last Wednesday.

 

As Thai army soldiers marched on the redshirts' central Bangkok demonstration site, fleeing protesters rioted, setting fire to government and commercial buildings and looting shops.

 

Central World was the most serious fire. The seven-storey shopping centre, the largest in Thailand with more than a million square metres of retail space, was gutted and will be demolished. It remains a smouldering wreck in the middle of a city now slowly emerging from the bloodshed of last week.

 

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said this week a western man was seen inside Central World as the flames began to take hold: "A white Westerner was involved in the arson attack on Central World, convincing them to set fire to it."

 

Savage conceded he was in the video. "I'll cut through the crap, it was definitely me. I said that," he said today. "I was under stress when I said those things. I was emotional, I was wound up because I'd been under sniper fire. I said it using old British sarcasm, I was being the caricature of the British soccer hooligan."

 

He insisted he was not in the vicinity when the fire began. "I had nothing to do with Central World burning down. Nothing at all. I swear. And I can prove it."

 

Savage has admitted to being involved in earlier redshirt demonstrations, including riots in Pattaya in April 2009, when protesters stormed the hotel hosting the Asean leaders' meeting, causing the conference to be abandoned. He was at state-owned TV station Channel 3 when it was set on fire last Wednesday, though he says he played no part in burning the building.

 

Savage was arrested by immigration police at the weekend for overstaying his visa, but released. He was rearrested by Royal Thai Police on Sunday afternoon.

 

The Thai government has said Savage would be charged with violating the state of emergency decree, an offence which carries a two-year prison sentence.

 

But the prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, said today he was confident Savage was a long-term member of the redshirts, and further charges against him would be investigated.

 

"In the case of the Briton, he's involved with the [redshirt] movement in Pattaya. In-depth investigations will be carried out to find out whether he had any other role."

 

The head of Thailand's Department of Special Investigations – the country's equivalent to MI5 – has warned that those found guilty of looting or arson in the final hours of the redshirts' two-month rally could face the death penalty. The department declined to comment on Savage's case specifically, but directed the Guardian to earlier comments from the chief investigator.

 

"There are groups of people who are burning state offices and public places," Tharit Pengdit said after the troop takeover of the protest site. "The DSI would like to warn these people that they could face a death sentence."

 

Even if a charge of arson is not brought, Savage may be charged with inciting violence and illegal acts.

 

 

Link