Thailand and the various colour-shirted protests
I am no fan of street protests. Anyone that knows me is aware of that. I made my feelings about the Sonthi-followers clear since 2006, long before they became the unruly mob that took over the airport in Novvember 2008.
My reason was clear. It had nothing to do with whether or not I support Thaksin and his government. It was simply to do with the fact that if we let a mob dictate what happens to our government today, because we think the government we elected has now suddenly turned corrupt, then theres no stopping the same mob, or a different one, to try and do the same thing the next time they are not happy with whatever government is in power at the time. A precedent would have been set.
Alas, a precedent was set afterall. So the reds took over the streets, and have been demanding the resignation of PM Abhisit. Crackdowns have taken place, and the crowd since dispersed. There has been some worrying images in the media, mostly of how the red shirts have destroyed property and try to cause chaos.
However, limited stories are also emerging on how the reds were initially attacked by others - by security forces, by other mobs, by plainclothes officials. An account shared by a friend living in Bangkok can be found on this site and also posted on my facebook profile. The friend prefers to remain anonymous (understandably), so I can only provide credit in so much as saying I did not write the account.
I certainly cant confirm or deny the mentioned account of events. However, what has always bothered me since our Democrat friends came into power, is the lack of activity to bring the leaders of PAD to task. and we can believe different accounts as to who instigated the first violent act between the army and the protestors, the REDs or the YELLOWs, or the NAVY BLUEs. However there is no denying that so far we have seen arrest warrants issued for leaders of the REDs, but to my knowledge none for leaders of YELLOWs. Where is the rule of law in this? We can argue over who caused more damage between the REDs or the YELLOWs, but the punishment for each crime is to be determined by the judiciary. There certainly is no denying that both have committed crimes. So why is it that only one group is being brought to justice, while for the other group there is no action taken?Unless some things have been done, and I failed to have for updates and news.
My reason was clear. It had nothing to do with whether or not I support Thaksin and his government. It was simply to do with the fact that if we let a mob dictate what happens to our government today, because we think the government we elected has now suddenly turned corrupt, then theres no stopping the same mob, or a different one, to try and do the same thing the next time they are not happy with whatever government is in power at the time. A precedent would have been set.
Alas, a precedent was set afterall. So the reds took over the streets, and have been demanding the resignation of PM Abhisit. Crackdowns have taken place, and the crowd since dispersed. There has been some worrying images in the media, mostly of how the red shirts have destroyed property and try to cause chaos.
However, limited stories are also emerging on how the reds were initially attacked by others - by security forces, by other mobs, by plainclothes officials. An account shared by a friend living in Bangkok can be found on this site and also posted on my facebook profile. The friend prefers to remain anonymous (understandably), so I can only provide credit in so much as saying I did not write the account.
I certainly cant confirm or deny the mentioned account of events. However, what has always bothered me since our Democrat friends came into power, is the lack of activity to bring the leaders of PAD to task. and we can believe different accounts as to who instigated the first violent act between the army and the protestors, the REDs or the YELLOWs, or the NAVY BLUEs. However there is no denying that so far we have seen arrest warrants issued for leaders of the REDs, but to my knowledge none for leaders of YELLOWs. Where is the rule of law in this? We can argue over who caused more damage between the REDs or the YELLOWs, but the punishment for each crime is to be determined by the judiciary. There certainly is no denying that both have committed crimes. So why is it that only one group is being brought to justice, while for the other group there is no action taken?Unless some things have been done, and I failed to have for updates and news.
posted by Jyoti at
10:53 am
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