bangkok thailand revolution - Black Tuesday
... it all started with a local FM radio station (must read!)
The prime minister flees on board of a helicopter.
Protester's clash with police claims second victim
A woman became the second victim of the political chaos in which police fired tear gas on anti-government protesters on Tuesday. The woman was identified as Angkana Radubpunyawut, 20, Dr Thun Supatarapun, director of Ramathipbodi Hospital said.
She died from serious wounds at the chest, the doctor said. Angkana was among protesters who clashed with police in the afternoon. She was rushed to the hospital and was announced dead at the hospital. A man was killed in a bomb attack in front of Chart Thai Party
Protesters' injury toll rises to 381
It said 48 of them were admitted to hospitals and ten had to undergo operations.
BANGKOK, October 7 (Itar-Tass) -- Staff of the Russian embassy in Thailand have been put on round-the-clock duty
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat Tuesday appointed Natthawut Saikua as the government spokesman.
Speaking to reporters after his appointment, said five companies of soldiers were deployed to reinstate police in keeping security in several locations in the city.
Unrest spills onto streets as Thai PM delays speech
4:00AM Wednesday Oct 08, 2008
Police fired tear gas canisters at several thousand protesters who barricaded Parliament trying to block the new Prime Minister from delivering his first policy speech. Scores of protesters were injured.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat opened the parliamentary session after a 90-minute delay despite a boycott by the Opposition Democrat Party, which said it objected to the Government's use of force.
Two protesters loses legs during clash with police
Two protesters became the latest casualties of the political chaos as they lost their leg during a fresh clash with police in front of Metropolitan Police Bureau on Tuesday evening.
The two protesters whose names were not known were among the protesters who tried to enter the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
Police in the Bureau compound threw home-made explosives into the protesters. The impact of the blaze cut off legs of two protesters and injured many others.
They were rushed to Vachira Hospital, their names were not known.
The clash took place as police tried to prevent the protesters from entering the Bureau's compound.
During the 15-minute clash, Border Patrol Police's deputy commander Pol Maj Gen Kosin Boonsang suffered a cut at his head after protesters threw an iron stick at him.
When police fired tear gas at the protesters in front of the Parliament on Tuesday morning, three protesters lost right foot, left leg and right hand respectively.
Riot police clash with angry anti-government protesters whom members were dispersed by tear gas later in the morning . 2008-10-07 16:51:13
Somchai escapes through palace
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has to flee from the Parliament which is surrounded by anti-government protesters by climbing over fences to nearby Pimanmek Mansion.
Somchai took stairs which leaned on the fences and then climbed over the fence.
Officials of Royal Household Bureau who are in charge of Pimanmek Mansion had to use clothes to cover sharp points of the fences for PM Somchai.
Somchai who just finished policy address in the Parliament cannot leave the compound as the anti-government demonstrators have surrounded the compound and blocked all roads nearby.
Somchai left the compound with his daughter; Shinnicha, who is also MP of People Power Party, and his six aides.
Somchai then boarded a helicopter from Pimanmek Mansion to Supreme Command headquarter on Chang Wattana Road.
However the officials did not allow some MPs of People Power Party who wanted to climb over the fences to Pimanmek Mansion compound.
A blank bullet was found in front of the Parliament where anti-government gather to protest the government. 2008-10-07 16:31:41
Deputy PM Chavalit resigns
Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh tenders his resignation on Tuesday to take responsibility on police's use of forces and tear gas on anti-government protesters.
Gen Chavalit is deputy prime minister in charge of security.
Police fired tear gas and used forces to disperse the protesters who blocked and surrounded the Parliament on Tuesday morning.
They wanted to block access of Members of Parliament to the Parliament to attend policy debate of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawats' government.
A man shows what is believed to be tear gas grenade fired by police to pro-government protesters
Wounds are not caused by tear gas, but powerful explosives : doctors
Vachira Hospital's director Dr Wanchai Charoenchokthavee said the protesters's wounds were not likely to be from tear gas.
Wachira Hospital doctors are treating several protesters who were injured after police fired tear gas into the anti-government protesters at the Parliament on Monday morning.
Police insisted that they used only tear gas to disperse the protesters who blocked the Parliament so that Members of Parliament from attending Somchai government's policy address on Tuesday.
"Judging from wounds of the victims we saw in the operation room, we believed that the wounds did not cause by tear gas," Wanchai said.
The doctors said the wounds were caused by powerful explosives which can destroy tissues and bones.
Despite police insisted of using tear gas, several photos showed one protester lost his leg and another protester lost his foot.
Wanchai said a total of 47 people received treatment at the hospital. Most of them had wounds on the bodies.
Santi Larnwong, 22, said he suffered several wounds on his body but will continue joining protests against the government.
2008-10-07
MPs leave Parliament after police fired tear gas to disperse protesters
Members of Parliament were seen departing the Parliament at about 5pm after police fired tear gas at protesters who blocked the routes.
Many protesters injured from the tear gas. They run away and hunted for water to wash the gas. The attack was aimed at taking out many MPs who were trapped inside the Parliament compound.
Many Mps were trapped inside the Parliament after they attended the government's policy address in the morning.
On their way in, the MPs had to sneak through back doors as pro-government protesters blocked all the entrances. After the policy session finished, they could not leave the compound because the compounds were surrounded by the protesters.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat had to climb over side gates to nearby Pimanmek Mansion before boarding a helicopter to Supreme Command headquarter.
Some reporters were also trapped inside the Parliament compound.
However not all vehicles of MPs can leave the Parliament compound as the protesters used big trucks to block the roads.
2008-10-07
Thousands of demonstrators assembled outside the Thai parliament building to block the corrupt government's opening session Tuesday morning.
At least two people lost parts of their legs, and two lost parts of their arms when they were hit by tear gas canisters or stun grenades,
The trouble started Monday night when some 8,000 protesters gathered outside parliament, vowing to prevent the lawmakers from convening Tuesday morning.
Police moved in shortly after dawn with a volley of tear gas canisters and stun grenades, sending the crowd running.
"They fired without warning," said Somran Rodpetch, one of the leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy, which is organizing the protests.
Despite the police action, hundreds of protesters remained outside parliament.
They blocked members of parliament who were able to get into the building and forced Somchai to use a ladder to escape over a fence into a neighboring royal palace where he fled by helicopter.
It was late afternoon by the time police could clear a path for other lawmakers to leave.
Violence erupted again just after nightfall. The police, who do not carry firearms, responded with multiple rounds of tear gas.
By Tuesday night, soldiers (!) were on the streets; the military said their troops also would not be armed.
The People's Alliance for Democracy has vowed to bring down the government that was elected by vote-buying last December
It been condemned by protesters as a corrupt legacy of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra (he was welcomed to live in England!)
who was removed by a military coup in 2006 after months of protests by the alliance.
Somchai, the current prime minister, is Thaksin's brother-in-law.
The current NED/CIA line is that on one side of the divide is the government,
elected to a convincing majority late last year with the support of the bribed rural poor.
Thaksin fooled the poor with plans for health care, education and loans for village improvement,
and the NED/CIA helped to bring about a political machine that has so far the CIA hopes to be unstoppable.
The opposition is mostly urban and middle class and therefore educated to see through the modern US-style democracy deceptions.
The Washington Post propaganda line is that "many of Tuesday's protesters sported expensive digital cameras; their weapon of choice seemed to be golf clubs".
One of the most "damaging accusations" against Thaksin was that he wanted to abolish Thailand's revered monarchy,
a holy institution.
Alliance supporters wear yellow shirts as a mark of their respect for King Bhumibol Adulyadej;
a Bangkok hospital said that Bhumibol's wife, Queen Sirikit, has donated 100,000 baht to help those injured in the demonstrations.
(The Monarchy is in the way of a US-consensus take-over of the countries resources!)
"I'll be here until the Somchai government quits," said Suwan Kansanoh, a retired government officer who had joined the demonstration with his wife and a neighbor.
Somchai's efforts at staying in power received an additional blow on Tuesday with the resignation of one of his deputies, Chavalit Yongchaiyuth, who had been given the task of negotiating with the alliance.
(Did he resign because he couldn't lie to the people?)
Somchai moved his operations to a converted terminal building at Bangkok's old international airport where he will receive advice from his NED/CIA handlers.
The alliance's proposals for political reform have garnered little public support; critics have called them both reactionary and ineffective, but essentially there is a corporate media campaign that keeps most people in Thailand uninformed and "perception managed".
2008-10-07
The clashes raised the stakes in the standoff, as Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat issued a policy address to Parliament that was meant to kick off three days of debates. Almost half the country's lawmakers boycotted the speech to protest the violence.
``The government's legitimacy is reduced as people were injured,'' Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political analyst at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, said in an interview. ``If the situation gets out of control, a coup is possible.''
The ruling People Power Party won December elections, a year after the military ousted Thaksin Shinawatra, who fled to the U.K. in August to escape corruption charges. Now controlled by Somchai, Thaksin's brother-in-law, the party inherited his platform of cheap health care and small loans to poor people that appealed to the country's mostly rural northeast, where a third of Thailand's 66 million people live.
Wealthier Bangkok residents accuse the government of buying rural votes and say they want a new system where professional groups represent half of Parliament.
Failed Reconciliation
Somchai took office Sept. 18 saying his government would reconcile with protesters and restore confidence among investors and tourists. He was forced to climb over a fence to avoid demonstrators when he left Parliament today, media reported.
``I have no plans to announce an emergency decree,'' Somchai, 61, said after meeting with Army Chief Anupong Paojinda and other generals at military headquarters. Soldiers were deployed this evening to help quell the violence, Channel 3 television reported.
Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh resigned after the violence began early this morning. The former army chief was brought into the Cabinet Sept. 24 to persuade protesters to end their occupation of the prime minister's office.
The number of injured protesters rose to 162, according to the Public Health Ministry. Most suffered from tear gas irritation, while four were seriously injured, including one person who lost a leg, the ministry said earlier.
Police said a car bomb killed a man near the protest this afternoon. Protesters rammed about a dozen policemen with a pickup truck, leaving many with broken legs, the Nation reported.
The demonstrators had blocked access to roads around Parliament, setting up barriers of tires stacked chest high next to barbed-wire fences. Many of them wore helmets and goggles, and they carried wooden planks and metal bars as weapons.
The People's Alliance for Democracy has vowed to demonstrate until the government steps down, saying it won't accept anyone who has ties to Thaksin.
``We came here to upgrade the rally and make a big noise,'' said Kusol Pravichpibul, 51, a protester who volunteered at a medical site near the Parliament building. ``
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
By Mongkol Bangprapa
Community radio host Anchalee Paireerak (PAD LEADER!) is determined to fight off the government's claim her station is illegal and that the signal interferes with mainstream frequencies.
Ms Anchalee said yesterday the government had begun a witch-hunt. Her only "crime'' was her perceived association with the Democrat party.
The outspoken Ms Anchalee received a warning from the Prime Minister's Office that her workplace, radio station FM 92.25, had erected a transmission pole higher than the legal limit. The relay capacity was, therefore, too powerful and the signal interfered with mainstream frequencies.
Ms Anchalee said the warning was politically motivated and intended to pressure her into quitting.
The Thai Rak Thai party began regarding her a fierce critic after she interviewed Ekkayut Anchanbutr, who pledged financial support for the Democrats to topple Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra before the general election.
That interview was conducted when she was hosting a news talk show in one of the mainstream radio channels. She also invited former Democrat leader Chuan Leekpai to her programme and asked him to compare Mr Thaksin with past tyrants.
She had continued to anger the government with the revelation of the contents of a VCD showing the carnage at Tak Bai.
She later resigned from the programme "under duress''and ended up with FM 92.25. Her career had been downhill from that point, as she stepped down as deputy mayor of Samut Prakan and sold her media production house.
Ms Anchalee said she looked for jobs with media companies but no one would take her for fear of upsetting the government.
Ms Anchalee insisted she was only doing her duty as a media watchdog. She did not know Mr Ekkayut personally prior to the interview, but the government had begun a witch-hunt against her.
"I've been driven into a corner. They despise me. They can't stand the sight of me,'' she said. "Why do they hate me? Is it because I speak the truth they can't bear to hear?''
Ms Anchalee denied her station's transmission pole broke the law. At 18 metres tall, its height was within the law. Her broadcast was widely received because she linked with other community radio stations.
The government was trying to bully her because she was acquainted with some of former Democrat politicians, despite the fact they no longer had active roles in the party. She insisted she had given Thai Rak Thai figures such as Deputy Agriculture Minister Newin Chidchob and Deputy Interior Minister Sermsak Pongpanich a fair opportunity to speak on her show.
PM'S Office Minister Suranant Vejjajiva denied any double standards were at play. His office received complaints about fuzzy transmissions and ordered an investigation without targetting Ms Anchalee's station.
Journalist considers exile to avoid government harassment
Reporters Without Borders expressed concern about the Thai authorities’ hounding of Anchalee Paireerak, producer and journalist on community radio FM 92.25, who said on 23 June she was planning to leave Thailand and study abroad to escape government harassment.
"The government has been harassing us in every way. We’ve been picked on from the beginning," she said. "At first, the government said our antenna was too high, making our signal interfere with the main radio stations. So we took down the antenna and broadcast through the Internet, which affected no one, but the government still shut down the website," she told the daily The Nation.
Paireerak reportedly received a warning on 22 June strongly recommending that she leave the country. "I don’t want to live in fear, so I’ll study again and do other, non-political things," she said.
The House Committee on Justice summoned Paireerak, who told them about the threats she had received, along with the Surachai Nilsaeng, a cyber inspector from the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Ministry, to testify about the closure of the radio station’s website. He declined to attend saying he was "too busy".
Anchalee told the committee she had been instructed by the Public Relations Department on 20 June to "improve" her radio station’s programming and it had also accused host Samarn Sri-ngarm of using impolite words and fomenting divisions in society.
She said that the cyber inspector sent her a letter the following day saying the website would have to be "made legal" before it could continue broadcasting.
Ms Anchalee's transmission tower was on top of a 38-storey building. The combined height would surely exceed the legal limit of 30m.
"Please don't use politics to justify personal bravado,'' he said.
Date Posted: 4/19/2005
PAD 'magnet personality' Anchalee changes her name to ward off trouble / PPP troops turn back on Samak despite intervention by 'big boss' / MRTA head Prapas gets ruling party out of tight spot in city governor race, but finds support lacking
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Ms Anchalee has become a new magnet personality at the PAD rally. The Morning News (Khao Yam Chao) programme she co-hosts with Kamolporn Vorakul at Government House is steadily gaining ground with the demonstrators there as well as PAD supporters watching the programme on ASTV or listening to it on FM97.75.
Based on the size of ASTV's network, Ms Anchalee believes her audience to number about 20 million plus nationwide.
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| Anchalee: We are PAD |
She hits it off with the audience with her quick wit, humour and straightforwardness. The in-depth and inside information she shares with her audience has made the programme a must for her diehard fans.
Some are reportedly often late for work because they feel they must sit through the entire programme.
"My wife is late [for work] because she has to listen to this programme. She won't go anywhere until Ms Anchalee signs off," said one man.
According to some of her fans, she has a way with words and knows how to capture the audience with different tones of voice.
Even the five core PAD leaders are said to be addicted to her talk show.
Ms Anchalee is no new face in the Thai media industry.
She has print and radio journalist background with huge followers who adore her biting criticism. Most of her fans are women.
She disappeared from the media community during the Thaksin Shinawatra regime. Producers refused to give her air time, so she took time off to further her studies overseas.
When the PAD was formed a few years ago to oust Mr Thaksin from office, she returned and has since became its key campaigner.
Wherever she goes, she is greeted by loyal fans who walk up to her and say, "We are PAD." Some ask for her autograph while others offer to pay her food bills.
Ms Anchalee has also been showered with gifts by PAD supporters. Among such tokens of appreciation are sunblock lotion - and Buddha amulets to protect her and bring her good luck.
According to her close aide, she has recently been advised to change her name by a medical doctor who also studies ancient Egyptian astrology. The doctor suggested that the name Anchalee may pose an obstacle to the PAD fight.
In one day, she had her name changed and obtained a new passport and bank passbooks to make sure she would not stall the PAD's path to victory.
Her new name is being kept a secret.
http://www.google.de/search?q=%22Anchalee+Paireerak
CENSORED
The Ministry of Information and Communications Technology (MICT) issued an order to shut down www.thai-insider.com (now defunct) and www.fm9225.com (now defunct) for allegedly threatening national security and disturbing public order, and for allegedly failing to register the owners' names properly, according to local and international news reports.
FM 92.25 began streaming programming on its Web site after authorities warned the station in April that its broadcast tower was too high and interfered with aviation communications. After complying with government orders to lower its transmission tower, the station had only limited range on the airwaves.
On June 20, the site's Internet Service Provider (ISP) refused to carry the Web site, citing the MICT order. One day later, the site found another ISP, which also received the order to discontinue the FM92.25 site. Anchalee Paireerak, program director, told CPJ that FM92.25 was streaming its programs through a third ISP.
The government said its attempts to restrict this and other community radio stations were not politically motivated, according to news reports.
Anchalee, who had been outspoken in her criticism of Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, quit hosting her program "Thailand Review" on June 23 and announced her intention to go into exile. Anchalee told CPJ that her reporting and commentary on political issues had made her a government target. "The prime minister only likes good news," she said.
Government critic and anti-corruption activist Ekkayuth Anchabutr runs www.thai-insider.com (now defunct), a text Web site launched earlier this month that carries news, interviews and commentary. Ekkayuth told reporters that he was considering filing a lawsuit against the MICT, according to according to the Bangkok-based daily The Nation.
Thaksin said he knows nothing about the shuttering of the two Web sites, according to The Nation.
Thai media organizations and members of the Democrat opposition party have condemned the government's actions. Hundreds gathered last week at a hotel in the capital Bangkok in support of the two Web sites that were shut down.
http://www.cpj.org/cases05/asia_cases05/thai.html
Sondhi Limthongkul, one of the PAD leaders
Thai officials state that only tear gas was used, however PAD supporters say Thai police also used bombs and guns against the unarmed group. PAD claims that more than 160 were injured, including one woman being blinded and one man losing a leg.
The 30-year-old Mr Thanya Khoonkaew was taken to Vajira Hospital where doctors say his bone in the left leg was shattered, requiring his leg to be amputated from the knee down.
The injury suffered could only be sustained by a bomb, and not tear gas grenades, the PAD stated.
Images of Thai police firing tear gas grenades directly at the protesters were shown on ASTV, a satellite TV channel owned by Mr Sondhi.
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