Demonstranten stürmen Flughafen von Bangkok

[Daniel Sun]

PM condemns seizing of airport as illegal and threat to democracy
By Piyanart Srivalo
Naya Jaikawang
The Nation
Published on November 27, 2008


As the People's Alliance for Democracy came under fire for the seizure of Suvarnabhumi Airport, its rival, Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, was defiant despite staring at what was looking increasingly like a dysfunctional government.

Addressing the nation on NBT from Chiang Mai last night, Somchai condemned the seizure of the airport as illegal, undemocratic and a threat to democracy and well-being of the country.

He vowed to convene an urgent Cabinet meeting today to discuss measures to bring the situation back to normal.

"We need to solve the problem. Unarmed gathering is always allowed, but the laws have been broken and armed people have caused damage to national interests," he said.

Somchai's chartered flight from Peru had to be diverted in the last minute to Chiang Mai late yesterday afternoon, and it was unclear how, where and when the scheduled Cabinet meeting will take place today. On top of that, Army chief Anupong Paochinda openly called for a House dissolution to end the damaging stand-off with the PAD.

Just how Somchai can go on running the country with paralysed air services, a defiant Army chief, and Cabinet members and lawmakers constantly on the run from belligerent protesters was the biggest question yesterday.

The Army chief's stand threw the ball back into Somchai's court, after the latter had put pressure on the general by appointing him head of a high-level multi-sector panel to monitor the political crisis. The Anupong panel's call for a House dissolution carried a thinly veiled message: the Army will not use force to dislodge the PAD protesters from Suvarnabhumi.

The Civil Court yesterday evening issued an urgent injunction to evict the protesters from the Suvarnabhumi International Airport. No immediate PAD reaction was available.

Somchai had seen the government's international work disrupted last week when PAD protesters surrounded Parliament and forced postponement of a session that would have addressed some foreign affairs commitments.

The PAD yesterday swarmed into the old Don Mueang Airport, which has been used partly as government headquarters since the movement seized Government House a few months ago, and managed to stop its fledging services as a temporary airport. This meant Cabinet members could not fly from Bangkok to join Somchai in a meeting upcountry.

Government strategists believe if Somchai can survive the next couple of days, great pressure will swing back against the PAD for its airport closure. The movement came under heavy local and international criticism yesterday, but the focus was on how Somchai would manage the crisis.

A violent showdown is feared today between the PAD and the pro-government red-shirt army, which was mobilising its followers to Bangkok yesterday.

Anupong, meanwhile, was ridiculed by both sides after his situation-monitoring panel made a dual call for the government to dissolve the House and the PAD to end its protests.

The panel, which brings together public and private-sector representatives including academics, expected the government to take the first move on the House dissolution, followed by the PAD to completely stop the opposition movement.

The proposal is based on the hope that should the government fail to heed the advice, the bureaucracy might resort to civil disobedience and stop implementing government orders. And in case the PAD fails to end the protests, social sanction will be imposed.

"The country is being affected by this crisis, which involves the government and the PAD," Anupong said. "It is therefore their responsibility to try and solve the conflict. The government should return power to the people and the PAD should end its activities. This is our proposal, not an attempt to put pressure on them."

Suraphol Nitikraipot, Thammasat University rector and a panel member, said he hoped society would come up with its own form of pressure if both sides remained stubborn.

"We think that if the government returns power to the people, the PAD automatically will have to end its campaign," he said.

In his NBT speech last night, Somchai also sternly asked government officials to strictly perform their tasks to help bring the country back to normal.

"My position is not as important as the country's law and order as well as democracy. This is a government elected by the people and we will keep doing our job to the best of our ability," he said.

Quelle

[Daniel Sun]

State of emergency to be declared on airports
By The Nation

Govt set to declare state of emergency on the Suvarnabhumi and Don Muang airports, as coup rumours continue to swirl



Public Health Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung confirmed that the Cabinet resolved to declare state of emergency over the Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.

Speaking to reporters via a teleconference at 5:50 pm, Chalerm said that the government would declare state of emergency for Suvarnahbumi and Don Mueang airports and would assign police to handle the situation.

He said the Metropolitan Police chief would be in charge of situation at the Don Mueang and the commissioner of the Provincial Police Bureau 1 at the Suvarnabhumi.

The state of emergency empowered the government to control movement of people and prohibit mass assembly in any specific locations. The prime minister is empowered to exercise the powers through the armed forces.

In a day full of widespread coup rumours, the government has pleaded with the military to remain in barracks with unconfirmed reports that PM Somchai may soon declare a state of emergency.

Government spokesman Natthawut Saikua also announced after an urgent Cabinet meeting that the government had no intention to remove Army chief Anupong Paochinda.

The urgent Cabinet meeting was also known to discuss the possible use of emergency decree or the implementation of the internal security act.

"We have to consider these legal options," said Natthawut before the meeting.

Anupong, in his capacity as head of the government's task force monitoring the crisis, on Wednesday called on Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to dissolve the House and the People's Alliance for Democracy to end its protests.

Rumours were rife on Thursday about a secret Anupong ultimatum that Somchai must dissolve the House before midnight Thursday or face a coup. Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd however, has been quoted by AP as denying there would be a coup.

Newspaper offices have been flooded with phone calls inquiring or giving "tips" about an imminent coup. A source claimed Anupong had a telephone conversation with Somchai in the morning.

Government office workers have been told to leave home early, so have many private sector employees, adding to the widespread anxiety.

The Cabinet, meeting in Chiang Mai, did not consider about purging the military top brass, Government Spokesman Natthawut Saikua announced in an unexpected press conference, pleading with soldiers to remain in barracks. The announcement invariably add weight to the coup rumours.

He said he came out from the Cabinet meeting to make the announcement when the meeting was still going on because there were high speculations about coup.

Natthawut said the government would like to call on the military not to mobilise the troops because the military leaders would not be purged.

Minutes after Natthawut talked to reporters, Army-run TV Channel 5 ran a running text at the bottom of TV screen saying troop movements that were seen by the public were soldiers returning from a demonstration held for Army cadets.

The PAD, meanwhile, was cautious, mooting a theory that the coup rumours were a decoy designed to distract the protesters at the Suvarnabhumi airport before an operation to disperse the crowd.

There were also grave concerns that a coup attempt could spark a nationwide violence involving pro- and anti-Thaksin mobs as well as the military. Suriyasai Katasila, a PAD leader, told The Nation: "Coup is the least of my concern now. I'm worried about violence because nobody seems to be in full control at the moment."


Quelle

In etwa einer halben bis Stunde werden wir mehr wissen, wenn sich ein Gerücht bestättigen sollte.........

[Dieter]

In etwa einer halben bis Stunde werden wir mehr wissen, wenn sich ein Gerücht bestättigen sollte.........

Das Geruecht bestaetigte sich nicht und das Heer steht auf der Seite des Volkes und der Monarchie (PAD).

Ich befürchte nach wie vor, dass dieses hin und her nur die Folge von gewissen Streitigkeiten sind über die grösse diverser Lunchpakete.

[Daniel Sun]

Und wieder einen Schuß Öl ins Feuer....

Govt to enlist help from Thaksin if coups staged


The government will enlist help from former prime minister Thasksin Shinawatra if a coup is staged against the administration, government Spokesman Natthawut Saikua said Friday.

He said thaksin would make phone calls to direct the resistance against the coup on around-the-clock basis.

"If a coup is staged, thaksin will fight against it along side with Thais. He can make phone calls to us 24 hours a day," Natthawut said.

The nation

[Daniel Sun]

Spokesman claims Govt wins support to use force to end Bangkok airports' besieging


Government Spokesman Natthawut Saikua claimed Friday the government has won both international human rights organisations and foreign diplomats' support for use of force to end the besieging of Suvarnabhumi International Airport and Don Mueang Airport.

Natthawut said the International Community would not mind the use of force against protesters as long as the government must first evacuate over 3,000 stranded tourists from the airports first.

"I am informed by a non-governmental organisation that the international human rights organisations and foreign diplomats want the government to evacuate over 3,000 tourists to safety first then the government can do anything with the protesters. They will not oppose or question the government about it actions against the protesters,""Natthawut said.

The nation

[Daniel Sun]

Video Interview mit Thaksin....

The Nation

[Daniel Sun]

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 senior person to leave and claimed they would "fight to the death" against any police attack.
Police read an official declaration that protesters must leave Don Mueang, and stationed riot police near Suvarnabhumi.

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.

Mr Somchai fired the national police chief Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwanbut - moving him to an inactive post - .and replaced him with the police inspector-general, Pol Maj Gen Prateep Tanprasert.

An officer at Don Mueang used a megaphone to tell protesters they had to leave the rally site. Otherwise "law enforcement officers will carry out appropriate and necessary measures to solve the situation".

"All of those who violate law will be prosecuted both in criminal and civil cases," he said.

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.

"We will use the gentle way first. The priority is to negotiate and not crack down immediately. We are all Thais," regional deputy police commander Pol Maj Gen Piya Sorntrakoon told the AFP news agency.

In a dramatic sign that anarchy was creeping in, government spokesman Suparat Nakbunnam said Mr Somchai would remain in Chiang Mai "indefinitely."

"As there are still uncertainties in the tensions between the government and army, for his safety the prime minister will stay in Chiang Mai," he said.

A poll by Bangkok University released on Friday claimed that support for the PAD had dropped below 12 per cent in Bangkok, but that just 16.1 per cent backed the use of force by the army or police to clear the protesters from the airport.

The occupation of the airports has had severe economic effects. Sudjit Intharathaiwong, deputy secretary general of the Board of Investment, said 200,000 workers in the electronics assembly plants around Bangkok have been laid off because of the lack of transport to import raw materials and export computer chips and other electonic parts. (with reports from AFP)

Quelle

[Daniel Sun]

'Act or red-shirts will take law into own hands'
By The Nation
Published on November 29, 2008


The government should quickly end the occupation of Bangkok's two airports, otherwise red-shirt crowds will take the law into their own hands to deal with the yellow-shirt protesters, organisers of the "Truth Today" talk show said yesterday. Veera Musigapong and Jatuporn Phrompan said they might have no choice but to urge pro-government crowds to take to the streets if there was no progress by today in evicting the People's Alliance for Democracy from the airports at Don Mueang and Suvarnabhumi.
Veera and Jatuporn also warned the Army not to seize power, threatening a backlash from the red-shirt crowds if it did so.

Veera said he expected the authorities to work under the terms of the state of emergency at the two airports to disperse the anti-government protesters.

"I expect pressure [on protesters] to increase from a soft approach to a hard one in order to resolve the airports' seizure in a speedy manner," he said.

If the authorities take no action to restore order at the airports by today, the red-shirts will have to assess their strategy and take action instead of remaining on the sidelines, he added.

He went on to state that he would mount strong retaliation if the Army took advantage of the crowd dispersal to stage a coup.

Jatuporn called on the government to disband the panel, chaired by Army chief General Anupong Paochinda, in charge of monitoring political developments on the grounds of Anupong being uncooperative in imposing the state of emergency.

He said Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was obligated to restore order quickly or he would risk being seen as a lame duck.

Jatuporn added that it was imperative to reopen the airports as soon as possible, as no democracy could afford to be physically cut off from the outside world.

He reminded the military that blood would be spilled if the military seized power, as red-shirt crowds were expected to take up arms in such an eventuality.

In a related development, the People Power Party yesterday decided to distribute pamphlets advising the public on anti-coup measures.

It also urged the government to take decisive action under the state of emergency imposed at the two airports.

Coalition chief whip Withaya Kaewparadai said the pamphlets should be ready for release by today.