Obvious answer to that is compared to the well known slant of the Bangkok English language media, Andrew Spooners blog is written from an opposing slant.Originally Posted by Gerbil
Obvious answer to that is compared to the well known slant of the Bangkok English language media, Andrew Spooners blog is written from an opposing slant.Originally Posted by Gerbil
It's the name of his blog you fucking moron.Originally Posted by LooseBowels
Err... last time I looked my blog was called "Asia Provocateur". In fact it's always been called "Asia Provocateur". It's never included the word Agent anywhere, ever.
^ I'm not giving your piss poor blog the full name as I see no need to assist in generating traffic / ad revenue for you.
^ Hardly a surprise you'd read it Tom....
If there's a will, There's an affray | Bangkok Post: opinion
COMMENTARY
If there's a will, There's an affray
- Published: 30/09/2012 at 01:56 AM
- Newspaper section: News
There are a few things I've learned from the rumble in front of the Crime Suppression Division (CSD) compound between the yellow People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) last Tuesday. One, as I already suspected, the red shirts have the upper hand. The Romans and the Americans created their hegemony through the three R's: resource, reinforcement and resolve. The red shirts have all three, while the yellow shirts have simply wilted.
Another thing, also as already suspected, is the ineffectiveness of the Thai police.
If the Romans had put up a shield wall similar to the one the police put up around the CSD, three elderly Gauls could have breached it.
On Tuesday, a group of yellow shirts turned up at the CSD to support former international school teacher Manasnant Nookham, who was summoned to answer questions over an incident last month in which she publicly accused key red shirt supporter Darunee Kritbunyalai of defaming the <redacted>. Then a group of red shirts showed up to support Ms Darunee.
However, Ms Manasnant's date with the police on Thursday had been postponed to Oct 29.
Yes, everyone got the wrong date and neither Ms Manasnant nor Ms Darunee was there .
Looking into the future, the most worrying aspect of the incident is that this was the first officially planned physical confrontation (not an accident or an unintended skirmish) between the PAD and the UDD since Thailand's current political crisis started in 2005, when the PAD first took to the streets. Where there's a first, there's the possibility of a second and a third, and so on.
Early reports estimated the PAD's numbers at around 500 and the number of UDD who showed up to support Ms Darunee at around 100. However, Charn Chaiya, a red leader and the voice of red radio FM90.25, put the red number in the morning at around 50. Despite the discrepancies, everyone agrees that the red shirts were outnumbered in the morning.
Both sides waved signs and banners. While the PAD sported T-shirts and headbands with the slogan ''Love the <redacted>'', many of the UDD were going with ''Love the <redacted>''.
When asked for the reason behind her chosen slogan, one elderly UDD lady said that she too loves the <redacted>, but she wanted to show something different.
''They already have that slogan, so we wanted to show our own,'' she said.
According to reports, the morning saw the two groups exchanging insults and hurling plastic water bottles at each other. There was pushing, shoving and kicking, but no confirmed report as to who initially started the violence, though it was clear that the red shirts were outnumbered and being pushed back.
Things escalated near 11am, when a truck belonging to red radio FM90.25 had its front window smashed by a yellow shirt, while others kicked and threw objects at the truck.
Both sides suffered injuries. Both sides called for reinforcements. The police detained members of both sides who were involved in the violence inside the CSD compound.
I got there just before noon, and here's what I saw.
There was a stand-off, with the PAD in front of the CSD gates, while the UDD took a position across the street. On the island in the middle of the road was the shield wall formed by riot police. There were more than 150 riot police and other officers total. Meanwhile, traffic was still allowed to move through, however slow.
Over the next two hours, the number of red shirts climbed to nearly 200, while the other side seemed to dwindle to less than 50. The red shirts flashed middle fingers, yelled insults and taunted. The yellow shirts became subdued as they were outnumbered, but they were still visibly angry.
Every now and again, the red shirts proved that they could outflank or simply break through the police shield wall whenever they wanted, with no more than three to five people.
That scene was repeated around five times. Then a group of less than 10 red shirts outflanked the police and charged the yellow shirts from opposite sides. Punches and kicks were thrown, more insults screamed and more plastic bottles thrown.
The yellow shirts also threw back punches, insults and bottles, but being outnumbered, were always on the losing end, except for one lady who swung her umbrella fearlessly at two red shirt men.
The participants were mainly people who looked to be over 40 and even over 50 years old. These uncles and aunties were the most angry and violent.
Every time the red shirts outflanked or busted through police lines, the first ones on the scene were the photographers, followed by more police. Always, the police failed to prevent breaches of their line, and only succeeded in pushing the red shirts back to their side of the street after many punches, kicks and bottles were exchanged and injuries suffered.
The police were also assisted by red shirts with cooler heads who helped pull back their more emotional comrades.
By around 12.30pm, the police released the detainees, to the cheering of the red shirts. A police announcement asked everyone to go home, stressing that ''We are all Thais.''
By 1pm, the red shirts were obviously winning and brimming with confidence, while the yellow shirts dwindled in number even further; the looks of dismay on their faces told the story. Many went home, while others took refuge inside the Tesco Lotus on their side of the street. Some went to Central Plaza Lardprao.
One group of yellow shirts who decided they had enough drove by in a car and yelled at the police, referring to them as a particular reptile deemed demeaning in Thai culture.
Red leader Charn stressed that the red shirts were attacked first. He said they went there in peace.
''We are here to support Darunee. Only 50 of us came this morning, then they surrounded and attacked us.''
Mr Charn demanded that the PAD hiding in Tesco Lotus go home, and said the PAD leadership should take responsibility and apologise. He threatened that no less than 10,000 red shirts were on their way.
Around 1.30pm, the red crowd began to yell ''Saranyu is here! Saranyu is here!'', referring to Saranyu Wongkrajang, the famous actor who has appeared on the PAD stage many times.
Rumours spread that he was going into Tesco Lotus, and immediately about 20 red shirts ran to the store. Everyone busted through the police shield wall.
There was no Saranyu, but a few red shirts began beating up on one man, surrounded by flashing cameras. They were eventually pushed back by the police and pulled back by red shirts with cooler heads. One yellow shirt grandmother who took refuge inside Tesco Lotus told a police officer, ''We should just hand over Thailand to the red shirts. The police are bad.''
By 2pm, rain started pouring down. Before 3pm, the remaining yellow shirts left through the back entrance of Tesco Lotus. Across the street, perhaps 10 red shirts were visible.
The rain stopped after 3pm, and about 50 red shirts walked out to the pavement, yelling and laughing.
When asked what they were going on about, one red shirt said, ''They are just happy they won.''
Later, Pol Col Prasopchoke Prommul of the CSD put the number of protesters at 500 for each side. He said in a radio interview that even if there were 10 battalions of police, they wouldn't have been able to contain the situation.
According to the police colonel, this is because there are people, hard-core elements, who wanted this to happen, to create this situation, but refused to elaborate on who he was referring to.
Everyone got the wrong date. No one was arrested. Ten thousand red shirts did not arrive. The police did not restore peace, the rain did.
Most importantly, when there's a first, the possibility of a second is somewhere on the horizon. Leaders of both political movements have urged their supporters to stay away from each other.
But as one red shirt told me, ''You can't control everybody.''
Voranai Vanijaka
"Slavery is the daughter of darkness; an ignorant people is the blind instrument of its own destruction; ambition and intrigue take advantage of the credulity and inexperience of men who have no political, economic or civil knowledge. They mistake pure illusion for reality, license for freedom, treason for patriotism, vengeance for justice."-Simón Bolívar
So after all of that Voranai - why was it the Red shirts that seemed to take the worst of it? Busted up truck, etc? And why, oh why, are we still talking about this? Get over it. Khun ben dek khong krai?
^ Are you expecting an answer Tom?
It seems he was just reporting on what he witnessed. As usual you are whinging because it doesn't agree with your strange opinions. And of course what he witnessed differs from the reports we were fed by the UDD English website and Spooner's (both of whom weren't witnesses to any of it).
Of course just recently you were praising him for his piece on patronage. Amusing.
Oh and a busted truck? I thought the injuries to both sets of supporters were of more importance.
Two trucks vandalised, both red- and I read that in a BPaste article. The Paste article said the violence, such as it was, started after the first truck was vandalised.
Do you still wear yellow shirts on Monday SD?
Ahh Voranai.
The man who wrote that the Red Shirts should be crushed.
The man who used his column to smear and attack the mother of Nurse Ked and the wife of Ah Kong, neither of whom he gave a right to reply.
As for his account - I wouldn't trust this man to tell me the time never mind give a proper balanced news piece on something like this.
Voranai is another of these fake Thai liberals who overwrites pontifications that appeal to the type of chin-rubber who thinks reading and understanding Voranai makes them some kind of intellectual.
He's a joke.
^ Your'e just the paid PAD yellow nutter on here Bob, arn't you.
Why did YOU feel the immediate need to attempt to negate anyone's anti-dictatorship comments?
Never see you trying to negate any of your PAD yellow nutter pals drivel
Get it balanced or piss off back to the Bangkok Post internet political comments section.
You can't argue with that
Amusing coming from someone who is completely biased and unbalanced.
And let's try that one more time...
You, a completely and utterly biased and unbalanced individual, are accusing others of being biased and unbalanced.
You just couldn't make this up.
Can I suggest you look up the word hypocrite.....and also a cursory glance at irony wouldn't go amiss either.
And yes I have written many anti-PAD comments, but you are just too stupid to remember any of them.
I mean, come on LB. You are the one of the dumbest people here. And that's saying something with folks like Nostromo and Calgary competing with you. You are completely gullible, so easily duped, personality disordered and a blithering idiot.
In the meantime, why don't you post some news.... or just piss off.
^ And you are twice all that Bob
You prove my point for me with your little jibes at Nostromo and Calgary, but fail to provide any balance by including any of your little PAD yellow nutter pals in there.
Get the point?
So either man up and do your job, or piss off.
Or admit you are doing what your'e paid for
You can't argue with that
^ Proof once again, as if any more were needed, you show yourself to be delusional, believing things to be real that reside in your mind only.
I post the news because I want to. I may want to stop soon. It has become a very time-consuming activity with no purpose/point or thanks. I post what I want from the sources I am aware of. You are free to post too, so why don't you? I'll do as I please thanks. It is my choice, not yours. Just as it is my choice to post, so it is my choice to stop.
And then, when there is virtually no news being posted with nothing to read, I guess you'll be happy. Because that's what will happen. A few times I haven't posted for a weekend and there's been nothing new here. So I hope you like that. Get used to it.
Not taking anything away from your sourcing and pasting activity SD, but there is rarely anything new in the BK press. It is 90% perpetual regurgitation of the same old themes.Originally Posted by StrontiumDog
Isn't it weird how Teakdoor's resident anonymous troll misses all the things that he doesn't agree with and reposts all the dubious, half-assed, obviously faked, easily debunked nonsense he can find?
He fits right in.
The Bangkok Post's favourite "balanced" "objective" "liberal" on the Red Shirt protests in May 2010. Remember he wrote this as unarmed civilians were being shot in the head by army snipers.
"It's a rebellion. Put an end to it, swift, severe and certain."
Truth About Thailand: Put an End to this Rebellion
What kind of "liberal" "balanced" oped writer would call the widow of a dead political prisoner a "tool" and a "fool" and not give her the right to reply?
Voranai....
Tools & Fools | Bangkok Post: opinion
Like I said weird how TD's resident anonymous PAD troll misses all the real good stuff...
That is clearly "balanced"... like Fox News.
It is shameful that it was written in the middle of the crackdown to justify the gov't position. Other journalists were doing their job and reporting on events.
I am curious about your perspective on the Abhisit offer for elections and the eventual dismissal of that offer just before this 6 day crack-down. The simple, pro-gov't line was that Thaksin squashed the idea, the simple pro-UDD line is that Abhisit attached conditions that made the offer a non-offer.
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