Bangkok State of Emergency

>> Sunday, April 12, 2009

All hell's broken loose in the capital.

From AP:
BANGKOK – Thailand's prime minister narrowly escaped a savage attack and rioting erupted in Bangkok as protesters commandeered public buses and swarmed triumphantly over military vehicles in unchecked defiance after the government declared a state of emergency.
Full Story...

I saw TV footage of a crowd beating what was believed to be the Prime Minister's car with sticks and throwing rocks and things at it. Near a shopping mall, two tanks were in the middle of the street after protesters basically hijacked them from military personnel. A tank-jacking? How in heck does such a thing happen?

Here in Phuket, in stark contrast, all is quiet. Took a walk around the neighbourhood and was met with only the usual smiling, friendly people in the market and in front of their homes. No one looked concerned about anything.

Until my friend called to tell me to switch on the news this afternoon I had no idea things were amiss.

Don't know what to say except I hope a peaceful resolution is found quickly.

UPDATE, April 13:

For English-speaking readers wanting info, The Nation is doing a good job keeping up with all the developments in the ongoing protest and crackdown that started early this morning. I don't know about the Bangkok Post, unfortunately, because I can't get into their site at all today. I think someone there needs to boost their bandwidth.

Bangkok Pundit
has been doing frequent live updates and analysis since yesterday.

For those wanting insight into things like my above question, "How can a tank-jacking happen?" here are some good places to start:
The Nation Editorial
The Nation Max Headroom

Some dramatic BBC video footage:
Of the crackdown
And a 'tank-jacking' episode

1 comments:

Anonymous April 13, 2009 5:37 PM  

Wow the picture going into The Nation link is scarey!
Be SAFE!
~annie

About Phuket

It's pronounced "pooh-ket", not "fuckit".
Its population is roughly 30% Chinese-Thai, 30% Malay Muslim Thai, 30% Buddhist Thai and an assortment of nutjobs and wackos such as myself.
It's a great place to come for holiday, but I'd rather you not because there's enough traffic here already, thank you very much.
It's a long way from Canada.

Salon: Life

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