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Monty Python Politics: when the mob thinks it rules

Tuesday, 7 October 2008 · 9 Comments

Tuesday in Bangkok has been a bit crazy. I spent the day cuddling with a naked cutie in my bed, and didn’t see the news till nearly 9 p.m. and it took a while to play catch-up.

Here’s what seems to have happened.

Under the Constitution of Thailand a new government has to read a ‘policy statement’ in Parliment within 15 days of forming in order to rule.

The PAD — The People’s Alliance for Democracy — in and effort to stop that policy statement from being read, surrounded the Parliament building to stop the legislature from meeting.

Under orders from Prime Minister Somchai the police broke the PAD using tear gas. The members of Parliament convened a session, but the utility workers cut off power to the building. The building was able to operate on emergency power until the generators ran out of petrol.

Along the way, the PAD re-grouped, returned to the site and locked the MPs inside.

Apparently the Prime Minister managed to exit by climbing a fence and exiting through the grounds of Vinmanmek mansion. According to news reports the PAD let staff workers exit, but not the MPs.

The PAD issued an ‘ultimatum’ that the government must dissolve parliament by sundown or ‘face the consequences’.

The police attempted several times to disperse the crowd with tear gas; apparently unsuccessfully.

News reports say that the PAD fired guns at the police, injuring three officers, and that 162 protesters were injured.

The latest news reports indicated that the situation was a standoff, with the MPs being held hostage, but that the army was on the way to reinforce.

It’s hard to imagine exactly how this situation is gonna improve.

Here’s a link to an article from the New Yort Times on today’s events:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/world/asia/08thai.html?_r=2&em=&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

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Categories: Politics · werewolf blogs
Tagged: hostage, PAD, tear gas

9 responses so far ↓

  • Draken // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 5:59 am | Reply

    Hmmm I wonder if this kind of thing should give me second thoughts for my trip…

  • Draken // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 6:00 am | Reply

    Naaa….probably not

  • Werewolf // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 12:08 pm | Reply

    Ahhh… it wouldn’t slow me down. It’s not as bad as it sounds since it’s generally confined to a specific area of town. It’s good to be aware of what’s happening and where when you’re here though, and stay clear of that area if you can.

  • MSB // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 12:09 pm | Reply

    Hopefully the press will now stop calling the PAD a peaceful protest of middle class Thai’s.,…

  • Draken // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 12:22 pm | Reply

    What’s bad is keeping up with US and now Thai politics…ahh well

  • Werewolf // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 12:39 pm | Reply

    That’s why you read RAW — I keep up with it for you and summarize it in bite-sized pieces.

    Anyone reading today’s on-line headlines from the Bangkok Post could be forgiven for thinking that the country is about to collapse. The lead headline is:

    THE BRINK OF ANARCHY

    Under the heading of “breaking news” we get these stories:

    PAD condemns the Government

    Police insist only teargas used to disperse crowd

    THAI (airlines) refuses to take 3 PPP MP’s on board

    Stock Market likely to drop for third straight day

    437 injured from Tuesday riot

    Asian markets continue their dive

  • Werewolf // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 12:48 pm | Reply

    And then there’s this from Wednesday’s Bangkok Post:

    Mr Somchai insisted that it was necessary for police to disperse the crowd, who were gathering outside the Parliament on Tuesday to obstruct the government’s delivering of policy statement, because the protesters were armed.

    “The using of teargas against protesters meets international standard,” he said. “Many police were injured. Some were shot. Some was penetrated by sharp iron rod. The protesters did not congregate peacefully.”

    Two people were killed in the clashes on Tuesday, and more than 400 were injured. Six people have lost limbs.

    So the reported numbers of injured and dead are mounting.

    Prior to the action by the PAD to surround Parliament, Somchai was sounding conciliatory. In fact he still is. What had seemed a slightly more hopeful situation two days ago now seems hopeLESS.

    Even during the mass demonstrations in 05/06 I don’t remember reports of injuries and death. Certainly nothing on this scale.

    It’s depressing to see the police appear so powerless. You’d think that somewhere in the past few years they would have invested money into crowd control training.

  • Werewolf // Wednesday, 8 October 2008 at 8:58 pm | Reply

    From the Nation newspaper on Wednesday:

    Doctors of the Chulalongkorn Hospital Wednesday refused to treat police injured during Tuesday’s clashes with protesters.

    Doctor Suthep Kolcharnwit of the hospital’s medical school said the boycott of police was a measure to denounce police’s use of excessive violence against the protesters.

    Suthep said Chulalongkorn doctors would seek cooperation from doctors of other hospitals to boycott police as well.

    Thai airlines refusing to fly PPP MPs is one thing — stupid but acceptable.

    Doctors refusing to treat patients — no matter who those patients are — should have their licenses revoked.

  • Werewolf // Thursday, 9 October 2008 at 3:39 am | Reply

    For some video of the PAD in action, this link to the Bangkok Pundit site is pretty interesting:

    http://bangkokpundit.blogspot.com/2008/10/peaceful-and-unarmed-pad.html

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