PAD Wins (For now)

The political crisis in Thailand is over for the time being. This doesn't mean things can't go pear shaped again in a few months. For now though the Thai Government has been dissolved and the protesting PADs have left the two main airports.

First plane out

A Thai International Airways flight to Australia on Wednesday was the first international flight in a week to leave Bangkok's main airport after protesters ended their crippling siege to bring relief to tourists.

The end of the blockade came a day after the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) claimed victory against premier Somchai Wongsawat, when a court barred him from politics and disbanded the ruling party.

Officials said 388 passengers were on the Thai Airways flight to Sydney that departed from Suvarnabhumi Airport, most of them Australian tourists who were among the 350,000 travellers stranded in Thailand for the past eight days.

"It's really good to go back home," Australian Brad Wheeler told AFP as he waited for the Sydney flight, which left nearly 90 minutes late due to problems getting passengers from a makeshift check-in desk in central Bangkok.

A handful of domestic flights and a plane from Jordan also trickled in to the airport, while international departures to New Delhi, Narita, Frankfurt, Seoul and Copenhagen were due during the night.

Hundreds of yellow-clad demonstrators had earlier streamed out of Suvarnabhumi and the Don Mueang domestic airports in cars, taxis and buses after the PAD handed over control to authorities.

"We will come back when the nation needs us," warned Somkiat Pongpaibul, a key leader of the PAD.

Thai authorities concentrated Wednesday on getting the airport up and running following a week in which governments around the world have operated emergency flights to evacuate desperate tourists.

Until Wednesday they were being ferried slowly out of a naval base southeast of Bangkok and a handful of regional airports.

"We will try and get everything back to normal as soon as possible," said Airports of Thailand chief Vudhibhandhu Vichairatana.

Damage from the occupation had not yet been estimated, Vudhibhandhu said. But Thai Airways said it alone had lost about $560 million.

Acting Prime Minister Chavarat Charnvirakul said parliament would likely vote on a new prime minister on Monday or Tuesday.

"In the next two weeks I think we will come again," said protester Pas Apinantpreeda.

Bangkok Airport Stand-Off

The Airports in Bangkok are still closed. This might get uglier. How unfortunate.

No surrender

The government indicated on Friday it would try to talk protesters out of the Bangkok airports without using force - but the demonstrators sneered at a request from a high-ranking official to leave and claimed they would "fight to the death" against any police attack.

The state of emergency declared by the embattled cabinet of Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat sparked widespread fears that any attempt to use force to clear Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports could spark a bloody confrontation with the anti-government activists.

Airlines began flying stranded air travellers out from Utapao naval base on Friday. But there are tens of thousands of passengers who have missed flights from the four days of unrest that have badly hit Thailand's tourist industry and Utapao is a Vietnam war-era base with few tourist facilities.

Somsak Kosaisuk, a core leader of the People's Alliance for Democracy, told a crowd of yellow-shirted supporters occupying Don Mueang airport: "We are not afraid. We will fight to the death, we will not surrender and we are ready."

Top PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang told reporters that "a senior person in the country" had telephoned to ask him to move his protest out of Suvarnabhumi airport because the closure has severely damaged the economy.

Maj-Gen Chamlong boasted he had told the senior person that he will halt all rallies - if the prime minister resigns.

Anti-government activists braced for an assault Friday night. They extended barbed-wire cordons to about three kilometres around Suvarnabhumi, and blocked the few access roads, witnesses said.

Police say around 4,000 protesters from the PAD are occupying Suvarnabhumi for a fourth day.
The international community openly criticised Thai officials on Friday. At a meeting called at the Foreign Ministry to "explain" the situation to ambassadors, the foreign envoys called on the government to clear the Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi airports as soon as possible.

Police began planning what they described as an open operation to reclaim the airports.
Bangkok police chief Pol Lt Gen Suchart Muankaew said after a video conference with the prime minister that he will begin with peaceful means, and try to talk the demonstrators into leaving, but with plans to escalate action.

Before any operation, he will invite representatives from the National Human Rights Commission, the Lawyers Council, the National Anti-Corruption Commission and the media to a meeting to give advice. He would allow live television broadcasts of any police operation, to counter any possible charges of brutality.

Thailand : STATE OF EMERGENCY

Thailand's political problems continue.


STATE OF EMERGENCY

Authorities have officially declared Suvarnabhumi airport closed until Saturday at 6pm at the earliest.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Prisananantakul told reporters the special Cabinet meeting held in Chiang Mai declared emergency laws will apply in and around both the closed Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.

Meanwhile, growing numbers of tourists, business executives and government officials are stranded by the severed transportation links between Thailand and the rest of the world. Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat was reported stranded in Germany where he was on a private visit on Thursday.

Some flights have continued through provincial airports but the main bulk of the 75 flights per hour through Suvarnabhumi have been cancelled.

The emergency decree orders the police to restore order and gives the military the right to help to "restore order, allow the suspension of civil liberties, ban public gatherings of more than five people and bar the media from reporting news that causes panic."

The military thus can clear out and reopen both airports, which were attacked, occupied and closed by the People's Alliance for Democracy on Tuesday night and Wednesday respectively.

Airport Closed

I believe (and I may be wrong) that the King has TOLD the Army not to Coup. I wonder at what point he'll have a talk with the Government and PAD. Hopefully soon.

Army helpless

The government on Wednesday rejected a "suggestion" by army chief Anupong Paojinda for the prime minister to resign, and the protesters who seized and closed Suvarnabhumi airport on Wednesday similarly declined the general's demand to leave the airport.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, meanwhile, returned to Thailand without incident through Chiang Mai airport. He spend the past week out of the country to attend the Apec summit in Peru, and the PAD was trying to block his return.

"The prime minister should dissolve parliament and call a snap election," Gen Anupong said. "The prime minister should think about the benefit of the country, and so should the PAD," he said.

But he tempered the demand, just as he did a month ago when he also told Prime Minister Somchai Wongbsawat to step down.

"We will not seize power from the government," said the army commander. "We are just making a suggestion and will let the government decide.

In that case, said spokesman Nattawut Saikuar, the government will stay on.

He spoke by telephone to Channel 3 news and said, "The prime minister has said many times that he will not quit or dissolve parliament because he has been democratically elected. That still stands,"

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) gave an equally dismissive shrug to Gen Anupong's demand that they call back their protesters and reopen Suvarnabhumi.

Mr Somchai must resign, PAD leader told cheering supporters inside the airport terminal.

The government "must quit first before we sit down and talk," he said.

PAD ideologue Suriyasai Katasila said flatly that the group would stay at the airport until it could discuss the matter among members, and rejected the general's demand.

Gen Anupong's strong stance against a coup gave him no leverage in trying to handle the situation, and he has time after time been reduced to little more than another helpless spectator.

Late last month, he attempted to intimidate Mr Somchai into quitting by appearing with other service commanders, the supreme commander and the national police chief on an evening TV news programme, but Mr Somchai simply ignored the demands to quit.

Bangkok's Airport Closed

Airport closed, shots fired

"For the safety for passengers, we have to stop flights out of the airport temporarily until the situation returns to normal."
Suvarnabhumi airport manager Serirat Prasutanon at 9pm Tuesday evening.

Protesters rushed into Suvarnabhumi airport and forced a halt to all flights on Tuesday, as rival forces clashed at outside, as well as on the road from Don Mueang airport where two people were wounded in the first exchange of gunfire between the PAD and UDD.

"I can confirm that there were gunshots," a police colonel on the scene said.

"There was a slight clash and two people were wounded."

In the eastern suburbs, protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy - some masked, some armed with metal rods - rushed into the main terminal, startling thousands of passengers and staff. They forced airport officials to shut down operations and cancel all outbound flights indefinitely. Planes on their way to Suvaranabhumi were still landing late on Tuesday.

Bangkok Protests

Major protests in Bangkok.

Parliament paralysed

Protests on Monday forced parliament to cancel its planned joint session, and left anarchy on the streets from Government House all the way to the old Don Mueang airport.

The People's Alliance for Democracy declared victory, but failed to gain its objective. Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resolved to stay in office, and the military showed no sign it intended to seize power.

More than 5,000 protesters led by PAD leaders Sondhi Limthongkul, Piphob Thongchi and Somkiat Pongpaiboon were still gathered in front of the parliament building on Monday evening. Traffic lanes were closed around the venue, as more protesters were expected to join the mass rally.

The protesters also cut off electricity to the parliament building and the Chart Thai party headquarters.

Suriyasai Katasila, PAD coordinator, said the siege would continue until parliament goes into recess or government MPs abandon their attempt to amend the constitution.

"May victory be with the people," PAD leader Somkiat Pongpaiboon chanted.

But from the Apec summit in Peru, Mr Somchai said he no intention of resigning, because the government emerged from democratic elections.

If the government has to be forced out, it should be done by the parliamentary election or the general public in a ballot, he said.

He said the global economic crisis was more important than the protests.

"The situation in Thailand at the moment is small - only a single location in Bangkok, and it has not significantly destroyed the country's economic foundation," claimed the prime minister.

"We have to talk and try for reconciliation," he told a reporter from the Reuters news agency.

An estimated 18,000 flag-waving demonstrators split up throughout the capital. They hijacked buses, fanned out in running protests through the central part of the city, and even wound up outside the new government offices at Don Mueang.

Six armed men claiming to be PAD security guards hijacked a public bus at gunpoint in front of the army’s Survey Department in the Nang Lerng area not far from Government House.

Police confronted the hijackers, and shot out the tyres of the bus. When it ground to a halt, the six men were arrested and police seized knives, a shotgun and ammunition.

House speaker Chai Chidchob called for calm and announced the postponement of a joint parliamentary session which was supposed to consider legislation needed for the Asean summit to be held in Chiang Mai beginning in December.

"I ask for all sides to stop the movement now. If you love the king, please return home," he said on parliament radio.

He was forced to call off the scheduled parliament sitting because elected MPs and senators could not enter the building. Police did not confront the protesters as they did last Oct 7, when a tear-gas assault killed one person.

The yellow-clad PAD protesters marched through the Ratanakosin district, waving Thai flags and holding aloft portraits of His Majesty the King.

Monks joined the protest, which supposedly was aimed at toppling the government. Black-clad volunteer PAD security guards wielding homemade batons protected the crowd.

Thai Senate Finds Police in the Wrong

Hope for Thailand. The Government finds out it just can't shoot a people who disagree with them.

Senate finds police, govt guilty

Senate panels on Tuesday found the government and police guilty of violating human rights for the crackdown on the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) on October 7.

The Senate committee on human rights, freedom and consumer protection chairman Somchai Sawaengkarn said violent crowd dispersal tactics - which left two people killed and more than 400 people injured - could have been avoided.

Mr Somchai also said government officials could have used alternative routes to enter parliament while meetings could have been postponed or relocated.

“The committee sees that the incidents reflected the guilty party’s lack of discretion and their inappropriateness of using weapons to disperse people,” the senator said.

He added the actions carried out by the police followed the cabinet’s resolution on October 6 to allow the government to announce its policy at the parliament as scheduled. Therefore, the government and the Royal Thai Police must be responsible for the damage done.

“Police officers did not negotiate with the protesters but instead used tear-gas canisters and rubber bullets against them, causing many injuries. Their acts infringed on the Declaration of Human Rights and were more than necessary,” Mr Somchai said.

Mr Somchai said a budget consideration of 56 million baht for victims was inadequate and unjust.

Land of Not Smiles

It truly is a shame to see this sort of internal violence in Thailand as it seems so out of character for the country.

Tension Grows

Scuffles broke out and a woman was punched in the face when five pro-government supporters were grabbed and held by People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) guards who claimed they were armed and ready to incite violence.

The incident has turned up the heat between the rival camps as tensions mount ahead of the United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship's (UDD) next big rally on Saturday.
Political emotions have grown increasingly hostile since the PAD shut the door on proposals by academics for peace talks with the UDD.

Observers believe the Kwam Jing Wan Nee (Truth Today) mobile political talk show in Bangkok on Saturday will attract a huge crowd of UDD supporters as former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra is expected to address the rally by phone from London.

Concerns are mounting the talk show could stir up emotions and create a volatile atmosphere among UDD supporters.

In what many fear could be a taste of things to come, a group of UDD supporters in red shirts were intercepted on Tuesday by the PAD guards outside the alliance's protest venue at Government House.

Four women and one man wearing red shirts with the words "Choose Samak, Love Thaksin", were caught early in the afternoon in a pick-up stuck in traffic.

The PAD guards claimed a few young men in the back of the truck fired slingshots at them. The guards were manning a protest checkpoint near Nakhon Sawan Road. They alleged one UDD member tried to hit them with an axe, but missed.

The young men escaped and the PAD guards grabbed five people in the front seat. They paraded them on the PAD stage in Government House and said the five were UDD supporters.

PAD demonstrators reacted with fury and tried to grab the five before the guards hustled them out of the grounds.

During the chaos, a male guard reportedly punched one of the women, Sombat Khayanchoomnoom, 53, in the face. She fell to the ground with her face bleeding.

Some of the PAD guards alleged Mrs Sombat and the others were carrying petrol, a knife and an axe and intended to attack PAD protesters. The UDD members denied the claim.

The guards said they found a red flag with the words "The Truth Today Show" and a cap saying "Saturday People Against Dictatorship" in the truck.

The five UDD supporters were handed over to police for questioning.

Tuesday's incident was the second involving UDD and PAD supporters. On Sept 2, they clashed near Makkawan Bridge on Ratchadamnoen avenue resulting in the death of a UDD supporter.

In the scuffle, the PAD guards were accused of taking the five and beating them near the protest security check point called the "PAD Station".

Thai Parliment Seige

Thailand continues to have big political problems which are unfortunately turning violent. A coup should be expected in the next few weeks if this continues.

PAD: Dissolve the House

The People's Alliance for Democracy locked the government inside parliament and demanded Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat dissolve the House by sunset on Tuesday or face "decisive action". PAD protesters shot and seriously wounded two policemen during a violent rescue operation of MPs and senators held hostage for hours.

The 6pm (1100GMT) deadline passed without major incident, but the site of new protests around parliament was tense.

PAD gunmen shot three policemen near the parliament. Two were in criticial condition after being shot in the chest and the collarbone respectively. The third was shot in the leg. There were no arrests.

The shooting took place during a police operation to free more than 300 hostages held by the PAD inside parliament. Police fired tear gas and laid down smoke cannisters to obscure their dramatic rescue of Members of Parliament and Senators.

The PAD had earlier "allowed" government and parliament staff and media people to leave the parliament building, but held the MPs and senators.

Police then opted to fire smoke flare and tear gas at the PAD ranks in an attempt to open a pathway to release those who were still inside the building, otherwise unable to leave.

Prime Minister Somchai, after a meeting with senior military staff which supposedly centered on the border dispute with Cambodia, was completely tight-lipped on his future actions towards the PAD. He told a brief press conference that he would not quit, but that the government will "try to solve the problem."

An explosion believed to be a bomb ripped a Jeep and killed a woman near the protest.

PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul issued the 6pm deadline threat on a fast-moving Tuesday, after police tear-gassed PAD demonstrators in the morning - and PAD struck back by besieging the parliament and kidnapping virtually the entire government and most MPs and locking them inside parliament.

Police who cleared the way into parliament on Tuesday morning stood by and watched the demonstrators regain the offensive and put a tight ring around parliament buildings.
In addition to the cabinet and more than 300 MPs and senators, the PAD also held an unknown number of government and parliament staff and media representatives hostage, and cut off lights and water to the compound without police resistance.

Mr Sondhi did not clarify what "absolute measures" PAD might take on Tuesday evening. But thousands of supporters were said to be on their way to Bangkok from up-country locations.
Back at the Parliament, most of the MPs and senators were still trapped inside the building as of Tuesday afternoon after the government delivered policy statement as PAD supporters blocked all the exits and entrances of the parliament.

House Speaker Chai Chidchob announced the closing of the joint session of the parliament at around 1pm after the government spent less than two hours to deliver its policy statement. The session was wrapped up quickly with little debate.

The opposition Democrat party once again boycotted politics, staying an arm's length from both the government and the protesters. Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said from the distant sidelines that he felt the government had no legitimacy to govern, but was unable to suggest what action it should take.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, accompanied by four to five followers, escaped the tight PAD siege on parliament by climbing ver a fence to the next-door Vimarnmak Palace, a royal site. Then, he got on board a police helicopter, which took him to the Armed Forces headquarters.

Mr Somchai was meeting late on Tuesday afternoon with chiefs of armed forces and supreme commander to discuss political turmoil.

Iranian Students Protest

The only thing actually rare about this event is that Western news sources are actually reporting it. This has been going on for years and often ends in bloodshed.

Rare protest targets Iranian president

About 100 students staged a rare protest Monday against Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, calling him a "dictator" as he gave a speech at Tehran University marking the beginning of the academic year.

While the demonstrators and hard-line students loyal to Ahmadinejad scuffled in the auditorium, the president ignored chants of "Death to the dictator" and gave his speech on the merits of science and the pitfalls of Western-style democracy, witnesses said.

The hard-line students chanted "Thank you, president" as police looked on from outside the university's gates without intervening. The protesters dispersed after Ahmadinejad left the campus.

Students were once the main power base of Iran's reform movement but have faced intense pressure in recent years from Ahmadinejad's hard-line government, making anti-government protests rare.

The president faced a similar outburst during a speech last December when students at Amir Kabir Technical University called him a dictator and burned his picture.

Organizers hoped to avoid a similar disturbance Monday with tightened security measures. They checked the identity papers of everyone entering the campus and allowed only selected students into the hall for the speech, but the protesters were somehow able to gain entrance.

Iran's reform movement peaked in the late 1990s after reformist Mohammad Khatami was elected president and his supporters swept parliament. But their efforts to ease social and political restrictions were stymied by hard-liners who control the judiciary, security forces and powerful unelected bodies in the government.

Reformists, who also favor better relations with the United States, were further demoralized and divided after Ahmadinejad won the presidency in 2005 elections.

In recent months, dissenters have witnessed an increasing crackdown, with hundreds detained on accusations of threatening the Iranian system. Numerous pro-reform newspapers have been shut down and those that remain have muted their criticism.

At universities, pro-government student groups have gained strength and reformist students have been marginalized, left to hold only low-level meetings and occasional demonstrations, usually to demand better school facilities or the release of detained colleagues.

Some dissenters blame the crackdown on the regime's fear of a U.S. effort to undermine it as tensions over Iran's nuclear program intensify. Others say the intent is simply to contain discontent fueled by a faltering economy.

Ahmadinejad's popularity at home has fallen since he was elected, with critics saying he has failed to fix the economy and has hurt Iran's image internationally.

Elected on a populist agenda, Ahmadinejad has not kept campaign promises to share oil revenues with every family, eradicate poverty and reduce unemployment. Instead, housing prices in Tehran have tripled, and prices for fruit, vegetables or other commodities have more than doubled over the past year. Inflation worsened after a 25 percent hike in fuel prices in May.

Last December, Ahmadinejad's allies were humiliated in municipal elections, with some reformists gaining seats. He was dealt another blow when a rival, former President Hashemi Rafsanjani, was chosen as chairman of the Assembly of Experts, a powerful clerical body, over a close Ahmadinejad ally.

Conservatives who once supported the president have increasingly joined in the criticism, saying that he needs to pay more attention to domestic issues and that his inflammatory rhetoric has needlessly stoked tensions with the West.