Thousands stranded at Suvarnabhumi

[drogon]

I don't believe you bubi, I am sure you would find a way out (and reasonnably secure).

 

I don't think you are the type to "I don't no where to go so I stay where I am starving until death"

 

I just read an article about a group of Belgian tourists who won a tour in SEA, they have just been taken to PTYA...the hilarious thing is they are really shocked by the city (or rather by the BG)

 

 

[Pom Michael]

Bubi,

 

Don't worry, I'm sure that your Oriental Hotel will send a car/driver and bodyguard for you.

 

But for the rest - they were sure able to come to Thailand, spend time here but when the sh*t hits the fan - now they need assistance to figure out how to get back from the airport to a hotel somewhere?

 

There are for sure some people really in desparate need of help - but those people are not on the news complaining about lack of places taking credit cards to buy water at the Family Mart.

[cavanami]

...maybe some visas ready to expire? now will the Thai Immi issue fines?

 

...a real mess...

[buffalo_bill]

On condition I have enough to read and it is neither wet or cold I could stay for ever at any given place . As a general remark .

 

What I would do at Suvarnabhumi depends on what time it is , if there are taxis and would I carry luggage or not . If Taxi available all very easy : I would tell Thai air I am leaving , call Nok and meet by the river , no prombremm .

 

If airport blocked , no taxi and with luggage I would first try to get rid of luggage , inform the airline I am leaving and then walk along the airport motorway til I see moving cars somewhere downstairs . I would approach a car , ring hotel by mobile and ask Olenten staff to explain the car-owner I pay 1000 / 2000 / 3000 / 4000 Bht for a ride to the river . Up to him .

 

Would I do this in Beijing , Pjoeng Yang , KL ?? No . Lack of local knowledge , no see before .

[Mentors]

a friend of mine called tonight with a chief cook from Oriental Hotel. He said the famous hotel is nearly empty of customers.

[buffalo_bill]

The other places won't do any better I guess , it is a tragedy .

[Mentors]

PM condemns seizing of airport as illegal and threat to democracy

 

As the People's Alliance for Democracy came under fire for the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport, its rival, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, was defiant despite staring at what was looking increasingly like a dysfunctional government.

Addressing the nation on NBT from Chiang Mai last night, Somchai condemned the seizure of the airport as illegal, undemocratic and a threat to democracy and well-being of the country.

 

He vowed to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting today to discuss measures to bring the situation back to normal.

 

"We need to solve the problem. Unarmed gathering is always allowed, but the laws have been broken and armed people have caused damage to national interests," he said.

 

Somchai's chartered flight from Peru had to be diverted in the last minute to Chiang Mai late yesterday afternoon, and it was unclear how, where and when the scheduled Cabinet meeting will take place today. On top of that, Army chief Anupong Paochinda openly called for a House dissolution to end the damaging stand-off with the PAD.

 

Just how Somchai can go on running the country with paralysed air services, a defiant Army chief, and Cabinet members and lawmakers constantly on the run from belligerent protesters was the biggest question yesterday.

 

The Army chief's stand threw the ball back into Somchai's court, after the latter had put pressure on the general by appointing him head of a high-level multi-sector panel to monitor the political crisis. The Anupong panel's call for a House dissolution carried a thinly veiled message: the Army will not use force to dislodge the PAD protesters from Suvarnabhumi.

 

The Civil Court yesterday evening issued an urgent injunction to evict the protesters from the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. No immediate PAD reaction was available.

 

Somchai had seen the government's international work disrupted last week when PAD protesters surrounded Parliament and forced postponement of a session that would have addressed some foreign affairs commitments.

 

The PAD yesterday swarmed into the old Don Mueang Airport, which has been used partly as government headquarters since the movement seized Government House a few months ago, and managed to stop its fledging services as a temporary airport. This meant Cabinet members could not fly from Bangkok to join Somchai in a meeting upcountry.

 

[color:red] Government strategists believe if Somchai can survive the next couple of days, great pressure will swing back against the PAD for its airport closure. The movement came under heavy local and international criticism yesterday, but the focus was on how Somchai would manage the crisis.

[/color]

 

A violent showdown is feared today between the PAD and the pro-government red-shirt army, which was mobilising its followers to Bangkok yesterday.

 

Anupong, meanwhile, was ridiculed by both sides after his situation-monitoring panel made a dual call for the government to dissolve the House and the PAD to end its protests.

 

The panel, which brings together public and private-sector representatives including academics, expected the government to take the first move on the House dissolution, followed by the PAD to completely stop the opposition movement.

 

The proposal is based on the hope that should the government fail to heed the advice, the bureaucracy might resort to civil disobedience and stop implementing government orders. And in case the PAD fails to end the protests, social sanction will be imposed.

 

"The country is being affected by this crisis, which involves the government and the PAD," Anupong said. "It is therefore their responsibility to try and solve the conflict. The government should return power to the people and the PAD should end its activities. This is our proposal, not an attempt to put pressure on them."

 

Suraphol Nitikraipot, Thammasat University rector and a panel member, said he hoped society would come up with its own form of pressure if both sides remained stubborn.

 

"We think that if the government returns power to the people, the PAD automatically will have to end its campaign," he said.

 

In his NBT speech last night, Somchai also sternly asked government officials to strictly perform their tasks to help bring the country back to normal.

 

"My position is not as important as the country's law and order as well as democracy. This is a government elected by the people and we will keep doing our job to the best of our ability," he said.

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/2008/11/27/politics/politics_30089514.php

 

[The_Munchmaster]

a friend of mine called tonight with a chief cook from Oriental Hotel....

Most people call with a telephone. :smirk:

 

[cavanami]

From the US Security alerts:

 

Meanwhile, the Bangkok civil court on the same day ordered activists of opposition group the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to vacate Suvarnabhumi Airport (BKK), Bangkok's international airport. Media reports indicate that BKK remains closed after protesters seized the airport on 25 November. Stranded passengers have been evacuated by bus to hotels. A tourism official stated that most of the 4,000 tourists who were stranded had left the airport terminal safely. International SOS Comment Somchai's refusal to step down has the potential to cause the situation to deteriorate further, although the army has so far maintained that it will not intervene. Despite Somchai's resistance, it is likely that he will eventually be pressured into stepping down and dissolving parliament; such a development is expected to ease the situation. There are no indications so far that PAD activists are planning to vacate the airport following the court order.

[tartempion]

a friend of mine called tonight with a chief cook from Oriental Hotel. He said the famous hotel is nearly empty of customers.

 

These PAD idiots clearly don't give shit to those they bring in trouble. (All that just to piss off a prime minister isn't?, not allowing him to land at Swampy, what a brain they have, Thailand does not have other airports?))

 

Think of tourist who spent their last baht before heading to the airport.

 

Thai Air Asia canceled it's 106 flights out of Swampy on the 26th. At 130 passengers/plane x2 for returns that's pissing off around 25.0000 people in just one day for one airline.

Consider the financial loss for that airline and the trouble for 25k passengers who have their travel plans/holidays fucked-up.

 

Myself was booked Hanoi-Bangkok_Udon the 25th and made it home 4 hours before they closed Swampy.

Imagine I booked my return one day later to be stuck in Vietnam, trying to find an overland solution and loosing money on my flight tickets and spending extra money on hotels, food etc.

 

The PAD can be sure that my GF who used NOT to go voting will vote against who ever represents the PAD.

 

She is really pissed off, watching the red T-shirt speeches on TV and shouting whenever I mention something politic. I have never seen her like that and need to urge her to cool down, I am not willing to play punching ball for her politically colored rage against these idiots