Tuesday, November 26, 2013

Thai protesters call for nationwide uprising


(AP Photo/Thai Spokesman Office)
By THANYARAT DOKSONE, Associated Press,  Nov 26 ,2013

BANGKOK (AP) — Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra fought a two-front political war Tuesday, fending off attacks during a parliamentary no-confidence debate while protesters besieged and occupied several ministries in their attempt to topple her from power.

Protest leaders threatened to extend the battlefield to government offices in provincial areas, while police issued an arrest warrant for protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former opposition lawmaker who led the storming of the Finance Ministry a day earlier.

Police said Suthep would not be arrested at the rally as part of a pledge to avoid clashes with demonstrators. A spokesman for the protesters promised that they would not seize Bangkok's airports, which anti-Thaksin activists did in 2008, shutting down air travel to the capital for a week.

But the situation remained volatile, as thousands of demonstrators fanned out to new targets in Bangkok, emboldened by their takeover of the Finance Ministry, where Suthep and hundreds of protesters camped overnight. The transport, agriculture and tourism ministries were also closed Tuesday because of their proximity to protests.

(AP Photo/Wason Wnnichakorn)
Demonstrators surrounded the Interior Ministry and then cut electricity and water to pressure people inside to leave. Security personnel locked themselves behind the ministry's gates, with employees still inside.

Protesters say they want Yingluck, who took office in 2011, to step down amid claims her government is controlled by her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.

Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile for the past five years to avoid a two-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction.

On Sunday, more than 100,000 demonstrators took to Bangkok's streets, uniting against what they call the "Thaksin regime."

What started a month ago as a campaign against a political amnesty bill has morphed into a wider anti-government movement. Protest leaders now say their ultimate goal is to uproot the Shinawatra network from Thai politics, with no explanation of what that means.
The occupation of the ministry offices has raised fears of violence and worries that Thailand is entering a new period of political instability. They also recall previous protests against Thaksin and his allies in 2008, when demonstrators occupied and shut down the prime minister's offices for three months.

Raw: Thai Protesters Clash With Riot Police
The protesters appeared to have converted the Finance Ministry into a headquarters, and declared Tuesday a "rest day" as they erected tents in the parking lot.

"Tomorrow there will be a nationwide movement," Akanat Promphan, a protest spokesman, told reporters inside the emptied ministry. He said the aim is to paralyze government operations by seizing offices and state agencies so they cannot be "used as a mechanism for the Thaksin regime."

There was no immediate sign the call would be heeded. The anti-Thaksin movement is strongest in Bangkok and the country's south, and Thaksin's many supporters might well challenge actions in other areas, raising another prospect for violence.

Separately on Tuesday, the opposition Democrat Party, which is spearheading the protests, launched a parliamentary no-confidence debate against Yingluck. They accused her administration of corruption and called her an incompetent puppet whose brother pulled the strings. The vote has no chance of unseating Yingluck as her ruling Pheu Thai party controls the House of Representatives.

Yingluck called for calm and offered to negotiate with protest leaders.

"If we can talk, I believe the country will return to normal," she said.

(AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
Yingluck has vowed not to use violence to stop the protests but expanded special security laws late Monday to cover the entire capital. The Internal Security Act was already in place for three districts of Bangkok since August, when there were early signs of political unrest. It authorizes officials to impose curfews, seal off roads, restrict access to buildings and ban the use of electronic devices in designated areas.

The anti-government campaign started last month after the ruling party tried to pass an amnesty bill that critics said was designed to absolve Thaksin and others of politically related offenses. The Senate rejected the bill in a bid to end the protests, but the rallies have gained momentum.

Thaksin's supporters and opponents have battled for power since he was toppled in 2006 following street protests accusing him of corruption and disrespect for the country's constitutional monarch.

The battle for power has sometimes led to bloodshed. About 90 people were killed in 2010 when Thaksin's "Red Shirt" supporters occupied parts of central Bangkok for weeks before the government, led then by the current opposition, sent the military to crack down.

The protesters' takeover of government offices has drawn criticism from the United States and the European Union, which issued a statement on Tuesday calling upon "all concerned to avoid escalation and to resolve differences through peaceful means."

Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker and Grant Peck contributed to this report

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yingluck & her opponent do everything
for Thailand interest . CPP does everything for self & Hanoi interests .
Vietnamization in( Kompong Cham ) border : Khmer authority let Yuon use
free health care to gag Khmers residents
for border encroachment - Yuon has given yellow card ( Medicare Card ) to
Khmers residents for free medical care
in Saigon while Yuon border guards are
robbing Khmers lands between concrete border posts . A ten thousand dollars reward has been given to any Khmer family who want switch to Yuon Natiobality , thank to CPP .

Anonymous said...

Dear 3:43,

If all of your comment is true, I truly believe that our country is in very bad shape. Does the CNRP know of all of these yuon' tricks, especially the two top leaders namely Sam Rainsy and Kem Sokha. If both had knew all of these reports and remained calm and pretended to see no evil and heard no evil; presumably, both are not sincere and honest especially at this current political climate.

Anonymous said...

be careful with the cnrp people, they are made up of mostly retired people living overseas that never even set foot in cambodia. and of course, people can see they like to politicize racism and discrimination as if to make khmer people fight amoung ourself. smart and wise khmer knew this dirty political tactics. if you know anything about american history, remember the bay of pig fiasco during the kennedy administration? back then, the military wanted an all out war against communists, but president kennedy had other way of dealing with the so-called communist threat. so the military and kennedy did not trust each other as a result. kennedy wanted the exiled cuban to fight each other in cuba, so american don't have to invade cuba that way. what happen next was noted in the history textbook, i.e., the exiled cuban were rounded up and executed when they went back to cuba, thus, it was a disaster. the military wanted a nuclear war and invasioin of cuba to stop communism spread, but kennedy did not want that. instead, he wanted the cuban to fight communism themself. so in a way, the military did not like kennedy for what he did and allowed the inevitable to happen to kennedy on 22nov 1963. anyway, learn from all history, khmer people! be smart and wise by now!

never put all of your eggs in one basket again! that should be the new khmer foreign policy, all eggs should not be in one basket again!

Anonymous said...

Kennedy wasn't Yingluck and Yingluck wasn't Hun Sen! Kennedy and Yingluck were educated with academics recognized by the world academics'school,Hun sen on other hand barely finish 5th grade in Pagoda (watt) When come to critical,crucial thinking life and death decision Hun sen relying on Hanoi and Beijing,Kennedy and Yingluck weren't.They relying on their own judgement in the interests of their country.Hun sen did all things in either Hanoi nor Beijing's interests,Hun sen put on power by Hanoi to serve Hanoi interests,Kennedy and Yingluck were elected by their people free and fair as Democracy process according to the laws.Hun sen cling to power regardless of what were happened to his country or his people,Hun sen relying/listening to Hanoi because Hanoi gave him the power,Hun sen had innocent Khmer's bloods on his hands,Kennedy and Yingluck has no human's blood on their hands,that is the differences!

Kdamjor

Anonymous said...

Kennedy wasn't Yingluck and Yingluck wasn't Hun Sen! Kennedy and Yingluck were educated with academics recognized by the world academics'school,Hun sen on other hand barely finish 5th grade in Pagoda (watt) When come to critical,crucial thinking life and death decision Hun sen relying on Hanoi and Beijing,Kennedy and Yingluck weren't.They relying on their own judgement in the interests of their country.Hun sen did all things in either Hanoi nor Beijing's interests,Hun sen put on power by Hanoi to serve Hanoi interests,Kennedy and Yingluck were elected by their people free and fair as Democracy process according to the laws.Hun sen cling to power regardless of what were happened to his country or his people,Hun sen relying/listening to Hanoi because Hanoi gave him the power,Hun sen had innocent Khmer's bloods on his hands,Kennedy and Yingluck has no human's blood on their hands,that is the differences!

Kdamjor

Anonymous said...

7:39am, true that hun sen did not attent college, bill gates did not attend college either, so, why people allow him to invent the microsoft to become the richest man on earth? plus, at the time when hun sen came to power in cambodia, there was no challengers, and cambodia starts from almost scratches after the primitive KR regime rigged havoc on the country and its helpless people. so, you're saying after 25+ years, you can just go back in restrospect and discriminate hun sen, etc for having no college education? i don't necessarily agree with your argument based on hun sen's has no college education, etc... hun sen so far did a really good job for cambodia. now that cambodia is peaceful and starting to develop, and rebuilding, etc, you and the like should not start using lame excuses like social status discrimination, racial discrimination, bias, prejudice, envy, etc to chastise hun sen and his political party like that because, most khmer people in cambodia greatly appreciated his wise policy and smart leadership skill to take cambodia to the next level. instead, you should take this opportunity to participate in the new cambodia that is steering toward true, western democracy, etc. i think you should know better not to discrimination by any means, nor bias, nor prejudice. how about do what is right for once and educate cambodia on the western way of democracy that the world wanted to see in cambodia. that is better than picking on someone's background, educational level, social or mediocre beginning, etc... that is so unprofessional and unethical for people with a higher education like you. you should know better by not doing that routine. there are a lot of successful, great business people, leaders, etc what did not have any college degree. maybe in today's society college degree is r3required to enter jobs, etc, but in hun sen day, there were no such requirements, so that to me was an exemption to the rule of now. the rule of now don't apply then. so, know the different and move on already! why continue to pound yourself in the head over something that was 30 years ago? the new rule and law should only apply from the time it becomes law, not in retrospect. otherwise, there is no peace on earth if you apply new rule to what happen years before the new law came out. even in the western society, new law only affect from the date it is ratisfied, that doesn't apply to what's already in effect. please know the difference!

keep in mind camobdia and its people want peace and reconciliation, not civil conflict like during lon nol era again because that could lead to KR primitive law again. who in their right mind still wanted that again?

Anonymous said...

Response to 8:11AM
Are you blinded or benefactor of the corrupted/proxy Hanoi puppet's regime? Are you afraid to change because of fear that you and your families will no longer benefactors/benefits from corrupted proxy regime? Lets the viewers judge for themselves.

For your information of about Mr Bill Gate did go not to college,you're wrong he finished High school and went to collage but dropped out went to Invent computer.You're talking off topic; I am talking about Politics not business! Doing business doesn't require education or degree but the know how and willing to risk! Politics is different from business because your decision will affect millions lives,if you lead them to the wrong direction like Sdach Sihanouk repeating his mistook over and over because of his arrogances refused to listen to anyone around him.Hun sen is walking to the same road like Sihanouk before him,which is walking with Hanoi and China because his ignorance/arrogance attitude toward Khmers in favorite Hanoi/Beijing.Because you're benefits from Hun sen regime, thatwise you refused to recognize the truth,you're blinded!...

Kdamjor

Anonymous said...

Good job kdamjor!
Hun sen was a dumb killer,Kennedy& Yingluck were not.Hun sen killed many Khmers to stay in power for Hanoi.

Anonymous said...

9:10am, my dear, i agree with some of the point you made; however, i just wish people stop using the past when the new rule don't apply. i know, nowadays, college degree or even high school diploma is required to run for top jobs. i'm just saying at the time when hun sen and his likes came to power, there were no such rule, so why chastise him for that? instead, if people want to critick him, etc, why not critick on how good a job he's doing? why they seem to use the past for the future? talk about no college experience, i remember reading somewhere one of the former US president, i don't recall his name, but he was the only US president elected into office with no college degree, and thank god, he did a good job for america, too at that time. i'm just saying now the requirements and qualifications even for prime minister of cambodia is different today then it was a few decades ago. why continue to use that to discredit him. i think he's done more good for cambodia than you like to admit due to your taking sides in politics. you might hate him because you hate yuon and think he is a slave of yuon gov't, etc; even that assumption has no truth in it and so outdated alreaday. if you say that about the past, maybe there was some truth to some degree to it, but nowadays? i don't know about that anymore!

i think all khmer people from all walks of life and all walks of politics should unify and reconcile and learn to get along with khmer and khmer and our good friends from all over the world as well. that is wiser and smarter and better than hate, discrimination, bias and prejudice of any sort.

if you hate hun sen, can you imagine what he and his party think of you and yours as well? i'm not trying to preach here, i'm just sick and tired of leaders and politicians not learning to get along with one another. that's more!

and khmer people had suffered enough since the 1970s, it's time to move on, now! that's all!

if you don't want to respect hun sen, at least respect other khmer people's wishes for national reconciliation, peace, development, etc! cambodia belongs to all khmer people from all walks of life, too, not just yours!

Anonymous said...

she fought against two things:
1) trying the Thailand to be communist in the 21th by make friends communist and dictator, Hun Sen and Viet.
2) Trying her corrupter brother to be free from the law punishment.

1) & 2) are her problem with Thai peole.

Anonymous said...

Yingluck a une tête just sur le lit, car une place première ministre est trop pour elle.

Anonymous said...

The comment above @9:34am was posted by Ms Yu Ao ambassador to Srok Siam folks! She was on of Cpp. guard dog to defend Hun thug Sen for power and wealth.