BANGKOK: Antigovernment protesters all but blocked the highway to Bangkok's main new international airport on Tuesday and fired handguns and beat government supporters with metal rods in fierce clashes elsewhere in the city, injuring at least six people, according to video footage shown on Thai television.
The escalation of the violence, which involved running street battles, came as thousands of antigovernment demonstrators across the capital kept the Thai government under pressure, continuing to block the entrance to its temporary offices at a terminal at the city's secondary airport and massing in front of the Army headquarters in their continuing attempt to unseat the government.
The blockade of the new airport, a main international transfer hub, caused long traffic jams and airport authorities said they expected flight delays.
In the violent clashes, one pro-government supporter was shown pleading for his life as protesters wielded long knives at his throat.
The clashes came on the second day of what the protesters, who have occupied the offices and grounds of the prime minister's official residence since August, had vowed would be their final push to unseat the government of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
On Monday, they forced the cancellation of an important session of Parliament and temporarily cut the electricity supply to police headquarters.
Before the violence escalated on Tuesday, there had been growing signs that the movement to oust the government was losing support among a public weary of street demonstrations.
During the demonstrations, police have largely avoided confronting the yellow-shirted protesters, allowing them to roam around the city chanting, shouting and singing protest slogans.
The Thai print media, which has been generally critical of the government and supportive of the protests, is now running some articles skeptical of the daily street demonstrations.
One columnist in The Nation newspaper Tuesday called the protests a "never-ending saga that is futile and a drain on society.""A rethink has become an imperative to put an end to the political turmoil," the columnist wrote. "It is time for all sides to stop the political melodrama."
After three years of on-and-off protests, the People's Alliance for Democracy, the group leading the movement to unseat the government, still has a remarkably loyal following, mainly among middle- and upper-class Thais, students and some union members.
Thousands of the alliance's followers have cheerfully camped out on the grounds of the prime minister's office, listening to fiery speeches into the night. But as the Thai economy slows down amid the global financial crisis and as the stalemate between the government and the protesters deepens, an increasing number of people are hoping for a conclusion.
"How is it going to end?" said Bharavee Boonsongsap, a 34-year-old producer for MTV Thailand. "I keep asking people but they have no answer."
"Thais are fighting Thais," she said. "People have become aggressive and even children have been taught to hate the opposite side."
I've followed the news almost everyday and can't believe that they allowed these protesters to break the laws days after day: ceased government building, interrupted and stop the parliament meeting, commandeered the public transportation, disrupted or causing the school to close...and etc...This form of democracy is not worth the price of sacrafice the life of Thai people.
I wonder (I know that he does not get involve much of nation's politic) why the King didn't come out and say or do something to stop this.
I wish that our nieghbor Thai people to reconcile and cease this demonstration as soon as possible.
ceased government building, interrupted and stop the parliament meeting, commandeered the public transportation, disrupted or causing the school to close, etc...
What do you mean ceased? seized government buildings, not ceased. ?????
I am so sorry for the said situation, it was Thai internal politic matter and , Thailand is facing with the Difficulty and very complected situation such as economic, political , separatist group in South and North and society devision, rich and poor and also Thailand will lose the face during the 14th ASEAN Summit which will be held Xiengmai from 13-18 December 08. to close the airport is bad new for passenger and Thai will lose the profit and image of the Country. alow such situation happen is because od western democracy value andThai is so closely associated with western society and ingnored Asian value of Democracy , therefore Thai should cooperate and learn and come to know the neibourgh and try to live in peace with them.
Yes. I agreed with your view and opinion , Thailand will lose their face, breaking face and the land of smiles will turn in to the land of evil and land of civil war and ghost . Now Thailand is facing Political , economic slowdown, separatist movement problem and has the borber disputes with Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia and with Myanmar. Lao people always consider that Peace , stability and the dignity of the country are priority , if we have peace we develop our country and our people can harmonize with our value and culture.
the genocide between thai is beginning, they have a terrible sin of annexation of other countries : laos ( north est of thailand ), pak tai ( south of thailand ) now they are paying the bill...
I'm suprised no one knows anything about Thai politics.
Doesn't anyone know there was an anti democratic coup a while ago? The old corrupt but democraticaly elected Thaskin was thrown out, the current prime minister Somchai looks favorably on him as do the people outside of Bankok, Bangkok educated, upper class, students, some unions don't like Somchai government so they are making a big stink.
Nothing to do with separatists or econmoy or ... I don't know why not read Bangkok post or something, buy a yellow shirt I don't know,
Look at it this way, less people are getting killed than from one xxxxxxx xx xxxxx in Laos.
"Asian democracy?" what is that supposed to mean. Don't you guys know how to vote? Asian Americans sure know how to vote, they just elected an African American.
I'm suprised no one knows anything about Thai politics.
Doesn't anyone know there was an anti democratic coup a while ago? The old corrupt but democraticaly elected Thaskin was thrown out, the current prime minister Somchai looks favorably on him as do the people outside of Bankok, Bangkok educated, upper class, students, some unions don't like Somchai government so they are making a big stink.
Nothing to do with separatists or econmoy or ... I don't know why not read Bangkok post or something, buy a yellow shirt I don't know,
Look at it this way, less people are getting killed than from one xxxxxxx xx xxxxx in Laos.
"Asian democracy?" what is that supposed to mean. Don't you guys know how to vote? Asian Americans sure know how to vote, they just elected an African American.
Let's wish for good things for Thailand.
This guy is too bad if he is Laotian, he does not know anything about Laos. Fortunately, he is an American. I wonder how he knows which Thai government is bad, the previous and current Thai government came and comes from election. Thai people know well who they would have voted for. Why he talked rubbish I don't know.
As for voting in Laos, we Lao people go to vote every 5 years.
refer to the question raised by Guy from American, Asian Vulue of Democracy is care about family, Country, community, Culture and traditional value, wecare about the collective or soridarity rights rather than individual right. your rights and your duties and obligation are diferent thing. Thai people foret their obligation to protect their value as Asian way of life, they right to speak but they should repsect the rights of other people. who will be best prime Minister guy for Thai peopel because all the elected prime minister, they considered as the bad guy, that means Thai society is devided reach and poor, North and south and from now they never and never become united Nations becoz they did the wrong thing in the past with neighboring country like our country, Laos. they took our land, took our people to build the khong sane sep ( Khone sane sep canal ) in Bangkok and so far, Thai always look down lao people and it is their turn, we will look and see the out come of Thai's internal political tension, and fermor Prime Minister Thaksin will return to the political game again. western democracy just allow you speak but they can not garantee the peace and stability for their people as you seen in thailand like now.
I don't want to see Lao people step across someone who felt down. We need to help them, support them, stand by them ! Even 4 leg-animal can fall down, so why not a human. We have to learn to open our hearts and minds wider It is 2008, and I don't want our people to limit our vision and generosity to the countries near by.
How Lao people will do some thing to help Thai ? we just observe it and closely monitor the situation in our neighboring, it is the internal problem and internal political tension , Lao people can not make any thing interference in Thai political matter .
I just hope that our Thai brother and sister resolves their political differences peacefully without losing human life anymore. As we know, most travelers passed through Thailand Suvarnaphoum Airport to go to Laos. Any longer delay or longer shutdown will eventually affect the tourists heading to our country.
What is wrong with the Thai people? I think that is why when people have too much freedom and they go crazy. If the laos is capitalism, guess? maybe the same thing as Thailand. I guess you all like it?
That could be the case, but I think the real reason is there is racism in Thai society. Whoever is Prime minister from North, South or Esan part, he is supposedy not good or he is definitely accused to be not good. Why?
He does not come from central part of Thailand, you know what I mean? That is the real issue.
i'm just thinking like you, people from the north and north easter of thailand have lao blood. the people from the center and from bangkok as thai love to call Krungthep Pramahanakhone consider themselve as civilized people, others are slaves or sons of slaves...just a thought...
I don't want to see Lao people step across someone who felt down. We need to help them, support them, stand by them ! Even 4 leg-animal can fall down, so why not a human. We have to learn to open our hearts and minds wider It is 2008, and I don't want our people to limit our vision and generosity to the countries near by.
you must be joking. do u kno what wrongs thai has commited to our lao brothers and sisters of the past. it can never be forgivin. we had a long trusting history with thailand when they were still a week kingdom we rescued them and came to their aid when ever they were down. but we never stabbed them in the back and try to claim their land. and the one time lao is week they take advantage of that and stabb our people in the backkk taking our ppl as slaves. the way i see it with thai falling the world is jus returning back to order. thai get wut they diserve. and you are rite it is the year 2008 the weak fall and the strong survive. i believe its lao turn to survive and the weak thai to fall. the world is only going to get more intergrated do u think thai will help us if we were i their situation.??? Hell noo they will jus take advantage of that and make their ego even more greater. the time of thai ppl looking down on lao is Over.so i see the crisis in thailand as an opportunity for lao.
i'm just thinking like you, people from the north and north easter of thailand have lao blood. the people from the center and from bangkok as thai love to call Krungthep Pramahanakhone consider themselve as civilized people, others are slaves or sons of slaves...just a thought...
Yes, I feel like we have a common language. We do think like each other. What I want to say more is that the grandsons and granddaughts of Chao Anou who live in Thailand are now fighting back to own whole Thailand.
I don't want to see Lao people step across someone who felt down. We need to help them, support them, stand by them ! Even 4 leg-animal can fall down, so why not a human. We have to learn to open our hearts and minds wider It is 2008, and I don't want our people to limit our vision and generosity to the countries near by.
you must be joking. do u kno what wrongs thai has commited to our lao brothers and sisters of the past. it can never be forgivin. we had a long trusting history with thailand when they were still a week kingdom we rescued them and came to their aid when ever they were down. but we never stabbed them in the back and try to claim their land. and the one time lao is week they take advantage of that and stabb our people in the backkk taking our ppl as slaves. the way i see it with thai falling the world is jus returning back to order. thai get wut they diserve. and you are rite it is the year 2008 the weak fall and the strong survive. i believe its lao turn to survive and the weak thai to fall. the world is only going to get more intergrated do u think thai will help us if we were i their situation.??? Hell noo they will jus take advantage of that and make their ego even more greater. the time of thai ppl looking down on lao is Over.so i see the crisis in thailand as an opportunity for lao.
just my two cents.
long live lao
If this guy is from the USA, he is not like me. I don't believe we should resort to that. I agree we should help our cousin on the otherside of the Mekong river if they needed. We should not take this oportunity to wish revenge for all the wrong things happened in the past.
A quote of a foreigner who lived in Thailand, posted in Bangkok Post:
" Disgusted with the PAD
As a farang who has lived in Thailand for more than five years, I am disgusted with the actions of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
The PAD is destroying Thailand's economy, Thailand's democracy and Thailand's reputation overseas, as well as acting against every premise of its Buddhist religion.
The PAD's invasion of Suvarnabhumi Airport frightened innocent tourists and made them think that Thais are dangerous and uncivilised. How can the PAD possibly justify its actions as being necessary because it ''loves the country''?
As a farang who loves Thailand and the Thai people, and thinks of Thailand as my home, I say to the people from the PAD who were involved in this action: You should be ashamed of yourselves. I thought being Thai meant you were proud of your country and your religion, you were welcoming to foreigners, and you were a peaceful people.
This latest act by the PAD has made Thailand look ''Third World'' and unstable, and is sending a message to the world that Thailand is an unsafe place to be.
Initially, I was a supporter of the PAD. In recent months, I have come to the conclusion that the PAD is the worst thing that has happened to Thailand in many years. I hope right-minded Thais who are proud to be Thai and only want what's best for their country think so, too."
I am totally agreed with Lao people view related to political tention in our Neighbouring Thailand, now it is their turn, Thai should rethinking their policy again, so fa Thai Sociaty is deepply divided reach and poor, north and South, red collor and yellow collor. the happing thing acaured is based on out come of western democracy existing in Thaisociety for some decades. in the future, i think the third country will interfere the siad matter. we, are lao and the neighbour just closely follow up the situation .
If this guy is from the USA, he is not like me. I don't believe we should resort to that. I agree we should help our cousin on the otherside of the Mekong river if they needed. We should not take this oportunity to wish revenge for all the wrong things happened in the past.
The way you write reflecting how innocent you are....
We are safe if we are stronger than them... we are not safe if Thai stronger than Laos...look at the history and make sure that the similar history will not repeat..
I've learned a couple of things in this webboard a long long times ago: don't pay attention to the errors of spelling or proper english writing here. Just ignore and try not to correct them, because of instead of getting a polite "thank you", you're likely getting your *** chewed out.
I've learned a couple of things in this webboard a long long times ago: don't pay attention to the errors of spelling or proper english writing here. Just ignore and try not to correct them, because of instead of getting a polite "thank you", you're likely getting your *** chewed out.
Just try to remember THiS : "NOBODY"S PERFECT"
Hey keep it coming, as person of Lao Nie, my english is horrible, having someone correcting my mastake is greatly appreciated... Thanks
Please keep going on correcting people's mistakes in using English. I am from Laos and I want to improve my English, that's why I come here. For those who stay in America, but still have problems of spelling, or english writing, don't worry, people in Laos will not look down on you. We come here to learn and nobody perfect. But if we help each other to improve, and don't be shy, our english will getting better and better. Khob Chai der
I don't want to see Lao people step across someone who felt down. We need to help them, support them, stand by them ! Even 4 leg-animal can fall down, so why not a human. We have to learn to open our hearts and minds wider It is 2008, and I don't want our people to limit our vision and generosity to the countries near by.
you must be joking. do u kno what wrongs thai has commited to our lao brothers and sisters of the past. it can never be forgivin. we had a long trusting history with thailand when they were still a week kingdom we rescued them and came to their aid when ever they were down. but we never stabbed them in the back and try to claim their land. and the one time lao is week they take advantage of that and stabb our people in the backkk taking our ppl as slaves. the way i see it with thai falling the world is jus returning back to order. thai get wut they diserve. and you are rite it is the year 2008 the weak fall and the strong survive. i believe its lao turn to survive and the weak thai to fall. the world is only going to get more intergrated do u think thai will help us if we were i their situation.??? Hell noo they will jus take advantage of that and make their ego even more greater. the time of thai ppl looking down on lao is Over.so i see the crisis in thailand as an opportunity for lao.
just my two cents.
long live lao
If this guy is from the USA, he is not like me. I don't believe we should resort to that. I agree we should help our cousin on the otherside of the Mekong river if they needed. We should not take this oportunity to wish revenge for all the wrong things happened in the past.
yehh thats what we did in the past help the thai out, and when our back is turned BAM !!!! do u want our pee nongs to be come slaves again???? u got to be kidding how can you sympathize for them??? i dont know about you but i have proud lao blood running through my vains. tell me when ever has prosperity and power, greatness.. ever went into the hands of the kind and considerate ? so mr lanxang i have to strongly disagree with you when you say we must help the thais out in their time of crisis. ive read over and over again about the history of lao, and i have seen their attitude towards lao ppl my self and in person and that is unacceptable. no more. not ever again the world is changing in laos favor. like it or not its gonna happen. one way or the other.
did you know that in the first years of Lao PDR inauguration, we were really in need of every thing, we had to accept every goods from thailand, as thailand has huge quantity depreciated food that they could not sell elswhere, they intentionally stamped " export to Lao PDR only " on the label of their goods and sell them to lao people, as we were very poor at the time, we accepted it, my tear is coming out thinking about the situation we were in... when they come to invest in our country because the wage of labor is two or three times lower than it is in thailand, and when exporting some of the garment made in laos to thailand they took garment made in thailand labeled it " Made in the Lao PDR " and forward them along with those made in laos to USA, France, Germany, Japan exempt of tax because it is from the laos PDR. and many other things that i prefer not to mention here the advantage they took on us...the attitude of most of thai people toward us...
did you know that in the first years of Lao PDR inauguration, we were really in need of every thing, we had to accept every goods from thailand, as thailand has huge quantity depreciated food that they could not sell elswhere, they intentionally stamped " export to Lao PDR only " on the label of their goods and sell them to lao people, as we were very poor at the time, we accepted it, my tear is coming out thinking about the situation we were in... when they come to invest in our country because the wage of labor is two or three times lower than it is in thailand, and when exporting some of the garment made in laos to thailand they took garment made in thailand labeled it " Made in the Lao PDR " and forward them along with those made in laos to USA, France, Germany, Japan exempt of tax because it is from the laos PDR. and many other things that i prefer not to mention here the advantage they took on us...the attitude of most of thai people toward us...
I agree with you here.... some Laotian here dont understand the history, they consumed alot of thai culture via TV, lack history knowledge about how the Thais did to Laotians.. so they sympathized Thai.... but dont know how dangerous the Thai is.. There is laos saying: Fung Kuam Thai Fai Mai Lao Kao ( If you listen to Thai, they will burn your rice huts)....
Yes, that was the past which we all Lao people need to learn from to avoid that would not be happened again and again to our country.
No doubt, we now have to make a good relationship with the good Thai people, especially our relative by blood in the basic of mutal benefits. Learning from the bad story doesn't mean we need to hate them. Just don't let it happen again or try to gain more benefit from them.
"Confrontation is a lose, cooperation is a gain". That is a slogan for 21 century.
Needless to say, let's go back to our topic.
I do support the current Thai government, they were elected by Thai people, especially our relative by blood, I repeat again. Do you know what I mean?
i don't like the idea of people who step on somone was already down! thai and lao are neighbor , if the situation is getting worse in thailand, laos 's tourist business will be in trouble, for example" if the airport is closed, no more tourism fly from bangkok, Laos's tourist will have the trouble , this is bad for laos if we are talking bout the impact of protestors in thai. for me, i am hoping that the situation is better soon!!!!
No flights from Thailand, also less tourists at Freindship bridge, less at Huay Xai, Less to Savanaket and Pakse. Most tourists fly in to Thailand. If there are no more flights there are no more tourists.
It doesn't take a rocket scientist's brain to understand that what's happening in Thailand now (major airports shutdown) had a negative impact in Laos economy (related to tourist industry..etc..). We just hope that the Thais will solve their problems as quickly as possible whithout anymore bloodshed.
I don't want to see Lao people step across someone who felt down. We need to help them, support them, stand by them ! Even 4 leg-animal can fall down, so why not a human. We have to learn to open our hearts and minds wider It is 2008, and I don't want our people to limit our vision and generosity to the countries near by.
The fuking Thai burn and destory Vientiane and kill Lao people like animal and you want me to feel sorry for them????? MUNG BOR ME JAI WAH?
Sometimes I think even with all it's problems Laos is more advanced than Thailand. Poorer and less developed yes, but at least Laos got rid of the Monarchy. Yes Laos has lots of corruption, but does it have more than Thailand? Also Laos has laws on the books and they realy do make an effort to protect the rights of the minorities peoples.
Besides all that every time I hear of Thai people having double pricing for falang I hope they just go ahead and shoot each other.
The United States is deeply concerned about the actions of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in seizing Bangkok's international and domestic airports, preventing the free movement of people and goods.
While we respect the right to freedom of expression, seizing an airport is not an appropriate means of protest.
We urge the PAD to walk away from the airports peacefully.
We hope that this situation can be resolved without violence and in accordance with the law.
United States Department of State November 28, 2008
From what I heard on CNN other day, it cost about $16 million dollars each day the airport close. So far, the airport has been closed for 4 days now and numbers will continue to climb. I wouldnt be surprise if alot of U.S. companies will be moving to other neighboring countries.
They need to come together and settle this as soon as possible. Let's hope they can work things out without killing each other.
I've read estimates of the cost to the tourism business alone at 100 Billion Baht, (2.8 Billion US). The ripple affect will stretch on through the whole high season no matter what happens now.
A lot of Thailand's electronics exports to the rest of E Asia operates on the "just in time" way so to save huge inventory costs. Part of being the 12th busiest airport in the world isn't just tourism but freight. A tremendous amount of high value electronics moves out of that airport.
A lot of Bangkok yuppies love the PAD. Combined with the worldwide recession they might have some thinking to do.
i don't like the idea of people who step on somone was already down! thai and lao are neighbor , if the situation is getting worse in thailand, laos 's tourist business will be in trouble, for example" if the airport is closed, no more tourism fly from bangkok, Laos's tourist will have the trouble , this is bad for laos if we are talking bout the impact of protestors in thai. for me, i am hoping that the situation is better soon!!!!
Man, we are peaceful people, we didnt cross on some fallen down people, Lao People here just express their feeling toward it... that is all...but you at least should be aware of history and how dangerous the Thai is and make sure that history would never happen the same way again...If you ask some thai people, some they dont evenknow Laos and Thai are neigbor...'
we got affected by them probably during the past several years, we rely the tourists via from Thai too much... and it is time to learn now and we should establish our self to be new hub of this region instead of them, because we enjoy more stability in term of society...
I agreed with Falang who lives in Thailand: MICHELLE TOPHAMPAD failed their politic of seizing Airports. They thought P.M. Mr. Somchai will arrive from Peru and he will be landing on those two airports, but unfortunately, PAD didn’t realize that He can be landing in Chiengmai. Since they failed tactic, they hold on in there until P.M. would resign. Thai’s politic is much different from U.S. P.M. is not Commander in chief. He cannot order any power. That is terrible government. The law is not strictly in force. Now, they cope into civil unrest. They have Red shirt, yellow shirt, and Military is the most powerful but it is not the weapon of the government at all. People kill each other every day. The military leader (Mr. Anouphon Phouachinda) has told his boss (Prime minister) to resign. 5555… That seemed to be stupid military leader. If am P.M., I already kick him out of duty. Those PAD missed calculate the worst international involving, instead of just Thai people only. The world would not stay besides them at all when they do this. Thai needs to reconstruct their government administration. They should elect Prime minister from population not from congress every time when the new prime minister has to be elected. I think those PAD need to get back home and return airports to the public. Airports do not just belong to the government but the public, and the whole world. They need to think again. They try to kill themselves. The world could look at them just like terrorism if they happen to kill one person, which they already did. They need to solve problem with ASTV1, which is spreading out untrue news every day, they are cursing everybody who against them every day. The government should invest on this TV station. It brain washed audience every day. That is the most weapon of PAD.
I want to send this magae to The PAD that their action is 1000 percent wrong, no country in the world lend their support to the PAD's action, even US Government also ask them to get out from Airports and Government house, who will be best prime minister for them ? all eclected prime ministers they considered as the bad and unacceptable for them, they should accept the majority result and the image of the land of smile and please do not follow the western democracy to much , you will miss understanding and miss inteprate between your rights and your obligation and it's outcome Current Thai Kingdom will break in to 3 or 4 states. Lao people will never forget what Thai people did the wrong thing to our peole, destroyed our country, burned down our capital Veintiane and took every thing to Bangkok , forced lao people to lieve their country especially Lao phoune (now they live in Lopbouly ) and punined them as slave building the canal ( Khong sene seb ) . now Lao people we united and protect peace, stabilty for development and prosperity.