Thailand's Activists Test Government's Crackdown

[Flashermac]

By JAMES HOOKWAY

 

PATTAYA, Thailand  Four months after their marathon Bangkok street protests ended in a bloody crackdown, Thailand's antigovernment Red Shirt protesters are testing the limits of what political and military leaders will allow, with a large fund-raising concert over the weekend in this bawdy seaside resort and another rally planned for the capital.

 

The movement's leaders have set themselves a specific goal: the release of opposition activists arrested in the aftermath of May demonstrations. In their Bangkok rally, set for Sept. 17, they plan to lay red roses outside the prison where several Red Shirt leaders are held on terrorism charges. They are also encouraging supporters to stage other events to commemorate the 91 people killed during clashes between protesters and government security forces.

 

Tens of thousands of protesters gathered in Bangkok in April and May [color:red]for demonstrations calling for fresh elections.*[/color] The action ended May 19 after a series of deadly clashes with security forces. Much of the country was put under a state of emergency, which has since been lifted in many areas outside of the capital.

 

By returning to Bangkok, where a state of emergency prohibiting political demonstrations is still in effect, the Red Shirts risk another confrontation with Thailand's powerful army.

 

But Red Shirt leader and opposition lawmaker Jatuporn Phrompan said in an interview at Saturday's Pattaya concert  which drew about 4,000 people and featured a telephone message from the driving force behind many of the rallies, fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra  that the crackdown had left the movement uncowed. He said that while the Red Shirts might lack strong leadership at the moment because of the detention of its leaders, rank-and-file activists learned from their Bangkok experience and can put together their own smaller-scale protests.

 

Some observers say the protesters might not gain much traction. The state of emergency in the capital makes staging protests there difficult, and it is unclear whether Red Shirts are sufficiently well-funded to engage in a lengthier action there, even if they want to. Only a handful of protesters might be allowed to travel to Bangkok's remand prison where their leaders are being held. And some Red Shirt leaders have said they prefer smaller, quicker actions to any big rally.

 

But the rekindled ambitions suggest government efforts to bridge social fissures are progressing slowly, if at all, political analysts say. While Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's Democrat Party-led coalition has won local elections in Bangkok, in poorer rural provinces many Red Shirt supporters remain angry over the stifling of a movement they see as their best chance for catching up economically with their compatriots, and over the deaths that resulted.

 

Mr. Abhisit has offered no quick fixes for Thailand's economic imbalances, but instead introduced proposals meant to work in the long term, such as a new property tax on wealthy Thais who leave large areas of land undeveloped, and a program to enable tens of millions of Thais to set up investment funds for retirement, with matching grants from the government.

 

Bangkok officials weren't immediately available for comment.

 

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month, Mr. Abhisit said it would take time to win over enough voters to ward off a populist challenge and secure a Democrat victory in a national election, which by law must be held by the end of next year.

 

Security analysts say the Red Shirts are trying to operate at several levels: through the main opposition Puea Thaksin Party, through popular gatherings like the ones in Pattaya and through the movement's underground wing. Government security forces blame the underground wing for instigating much of the violence that tarnished the Bangkok protests  and for grenade attacks in Bangkok over the past few weeks that have killed one person and injured several more.

 

As the Red Shirts try to rebuild their logistics networks, they face challenges within. Over the past few months, a number of competing factions have emerged from the old organization, known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship. Red Siam, a militant wing, is stepping up its presence at Red Shirt rallies, while a new generation of moderate leaders, such as social worker Sombat Boonngamanong, tries to put a friendlier face on the movement. :content:

 

Saturday's concert showed some of the flair that drew tens of thousands of people to the earlier Bangkok protests. [color:green]Cabaret dancers in black, thigh-high boots and feather boas performed on a large stage[/color] while speakers railed against the Thai army and Bangkok-based bureaucrats they say manipulate the system to keep themselves in power.

 

Farther back from the stage, vendors sold sausages on sticks alongside DVDs and graphic photographs of some of the people killed during May's clashes. Entrance to the concert was set at 100 baht a head, about $3.

 

The concert in Pattaya, where there is no state of emergency, was peaceful amid a modest police presence. [color:red]During the concert, Mr. Thaksin broke months of silence, phoning in from overseas to urge on the protesters. He promised, with characteristic flourish, "to make all Thais rich" if his supporters regain the political power they lost when Thailand's army generals ousted him in a military coup four years ago.[/color]

 

Forced to stay out of the country to avoid imprisonment on a corruption conviction  he divides his time between Dubai and Montenegro  the 61-year-old former telecommunications magnate said his main ambition was to return home [and get richer].

 

On Sunday, moderate Red Shirt leader Mr. Sombat organized a series of games and stupid stunts on Pattaya's main beach that drew around 300 people wearing T-shirts with clever slogans such as "I Am Red."

 

"I'm trying to send a message to the government that the Red Shirts will survive," says Mr. Sombat.

 

[color:red]At 3 p.m., dozens of Red Shirts ran fully clothed into the sea to begin a clean-up operation, picking up plastic bags and other debris.[/color]

 

"This kind of thing makes us more approachable," [color:red]says Kaen Orakul, a 59-year-old street vendor who traveled 240 kilometers, or about 150 miles, to Pattaya from her home in Bangkok with two friends.[/color] "It's open to all, not just Red Shirts. Anybody can join to understand us better."

 

Mr. Thaksin's backing for Mr. Jatuporn's rallies suggests the Red Shirts are now refocusing on taking back some of the public space they lost in the collapse of May's demonstrations in Bangkok.

 

"We want to show we still exist, and that we can't be scared away," says Mr. Jatuporn, the opposition lawmaker.

 

 

[color:red]*Which they then rejected![/color]

 

 

 

Won Sa-treet Journan

 

 

[unit731]

"Emerging from weeks of silence, the former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has appeared in Africa, where he said he was dealing in diamonds and visiting Nobel laureate Nelson Mandela.

 

A photograph of his meeting with the former South African president was released in Thailand by his lawyer in an apparent move to quash rumours that the fugitive was ill – and to advertise that he was rubbing shoulders with VIPs abroad.

 

"I travel all the time. Currently, I'm in Africa for diamond mining," Thaksin told the Thai Rath newspaper, adding that rumours of his failing health were lies. He said the photograph of him with Mandela was taken last Friday.

 

A spokesman for the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Johannesburg did not return several calls seeking comment."

 

LINK

 

 

[Khun_Kong]

Armed soldiers have reappeared at the BTS stations this week. They were gone for quite awhile.

[Flashermac]

<< "More than half of my assets have been robbed from me, so I have to earn steal them back again to look after my kids," he said of his three adult children. In a list of Thailand's wealthiest people published this week, Forbes magazine put Thaksin at 23 with a net worth of $390m. >>

 

p.s. If that's a recent photograph, he doesn't look so good. His neck really looks scrawny and his hands are quite old looking. He is only 60.

 

[Flashermac]

Armed soldiers have reappeared at the BTS stations this week. They were gone for quite awhile.

 

 

So were the bomb attacks. Still, it is probably just coincidence that the red shirts are holding a major rally this weekend. :content:

 

 

[dave32]

Choice of Pattaya as a location = very interesting.

[Specialist]

They probably figure the government would arrest and imprison them immediately if they tried it again in Bangkok. They probably think they can hide behind the tourists, and use them for human shields, in Pattaya.

[Flashermac]

And it's easier to flee to Cambodia.

 

 

[Coss]

They probably figure the government would arrest and imprison them immediately if they tried it again in Bangkok. They probably think they can hide behind the tourists, and use them for human shields, in Pattaya.

 

They've got 17 football hooligans lined up to be the foreign troublemakers/scapegoats

[dave32]

Only 17 mentally-challenged hooligans? Pattaya must be going through tough times. Our thoughts and prayers go out to them.