Tear, Gas

UPDATE: 18:00 PM Somchai W just gave a press conference, flanked by Army C-in-C Gen. Anupong and another senior military commander, stating that he would not resign. No dissolution. PAD's 6pm deadline for the government to dissolve is approaching (5:58pm)

BP: No sign of any coup, or at least not with Anupong's involvement...

UPDATE: 17:00 Reports of an explosion in a car (car bomb ??) in front of Chat Thai HQ, one person dead. Matichon reports that it was a Jeep Charaoke and it is alledged to be of a PAD supporter. Initial speculation from Matichon is that there was a bomb inside the vehicle and it was detonated by remote control.

BP: By who, what, or how is unknown?

Police use tear gas again to allow MPs and Senators to leave parliament. Two policeman were stabbed by iron bars.

BP: So a state of emergency? A speech? Or continuation of the same?

The Nation:

The National Human Rights Commission has launch an investigation in the violent crackdown on protesters, NHRC chairman Saneh Chamrik said.

Saneh said he was concerned that police were unprovoked but fired tear gas at protesters. The investigation will get to the bottom of the matter, he said.

BP: Unprovoked? I notice he doesn't say unarmed unlike the other "human rights activist" from the Law Society - see much further down the page. To see how unarmed and unprovoked the PAD are see this image:


Source:

BP: Initial speculation on the injured this morning was that there were grenades. Where those grenades came from is still unknown. All I will say is that grenades or similiar devices which cause injuries can be obtained by many parties and not just the police. I am too lazy to link to The Manager's "Slave Police of Tryants who Use Bombs" headline. They don't provide anything to substantiate their charges. They have pictures of police with what appear to be tear gas guns, but then again the police have said they used tear gas so the photos only show that.

Anyone have video or photos post in the comments showing use of bombs or explosives please post a link in the comments or send me an email.

A report from the Strait Times.

UPDATE: 15:30 So much to blog about and so little time. Deputy PM Chavalit resigns to take responsibility for the police action earlier today. PAD issue ultimatum to dissolve Parliament by 6pm. PAD seize police batons and attack the police, regain control of the areas outside Parliament with MPs and Senators stuck inside (they allow Rosana to leave though). State enterprise unions have/are threatening to cut off water and electricity to parliament. PM escapes parliament by climbing over the fence - he has to climb through Vimarnmek Mansion and the Royal Household Bureau only allow him to leave. According to Matichon, PAD leader Pipop says that the police used bombs against the PAD and PM Somchai had knowledge of this.

BP: Do we have any TV coverage of the government using bombs and guns as PAD alledge? There are photos of tear gas guns, but nothing else I have seen. There are around 80 injured now, but the question is, how did they get their injuries? Tear gas? Bombs? Guns? Whose weapons?

Where were all these anti-tear gas people when the police used it against the UDD/DAAD last year?

I really don't see how a dissolution will help. PPP will win again and probably an increased majority - anecdotal evidence from the pro-Thaksin areas of anger towards the PAD and the government not being able to implement policy. PAD won't accept the PPP in power.

So where is Somchai off to as well?

UPDATE: 13:30 Suan Dusit have another poll, this time on Chamlong's arrest. Again a large female sample (511 men, 945 women) which was conducted between October 5-6. It is of Bangkok and surrounding provinces.

1. Do you agree with the arrest of Chamlong on the treason charge while he is exercising his right to vote?

-It is appropriate/right/in accordance with the law, total 62.46%, men 66.20%, women 58.72%

-disagree/discriminatory action, total 30.57%, men 25.35%, women 35.78%

-hidden agenda on behalf of PAD total 6.97%, men 8.45%, women 5.50%

BP: Interesting the breakdown between men and women - the participants at PAD protests has more men than women too.. Now, imagine if they polled people in the North and the Northeast. I think it would be closer to 80% - in the South probably 30% though.

2. Do you think that the arrest of Chamlong will cause trouble/disorder in politics?

-disorder/trouble, total 56.38%, men 50.63%, women 62.12%
-no disorder/trouble, total 21.88%, men 27.85%, women 15.91%
-unsure, total 21.75%, men 21.52%, women 21.97%

BP: Can someone translate the rest in the comments and I will post it.

The Nation:

Thai Lawyers Association of Thailand and human rights advocacy group voice their opposition to the government's violence. The asosciation released its statement and said they disagree with the government's measure in a bid to disperse the anti-government protesters.

Somchai Homaor, lawyer and human rights advocate, said he did not agree with the government's violent mean. "The government has crossed the line of decency by ignoring the peaceful mean," he said.

BP: The PAD have barricaded off Parliament with steel barricades and barb wire? The PAD guards are also armed - see Bloomberg below. They are throwing tear gas at the police.

Matichon has talks of strikes. Pathompong (the General who was on the PAD stage in full uniform) has reportedly gone to see Prem. Forensic Scientist Pornthip said the PAD injuries weren't caused just by teargas.

BP: Going to see Prem for a chit-chat? Previous stories on Prem implicitly endorsing Pathompong will grow. From pictures of the images, it seems more than tear gas, but with Gen. Panlop in the mix, was it the police or the protesters?

PAD have reportedly regained control of the street outside of Parliament.

The Bangkok Post state that only 40 Senators have boycotted the policy debate - as opposed to reports of 80 before.

Banharn is quoted in Matichon as saying that police action was not excessive and that the Opposition must take responsibility for their actions if they don't attend parliament and the government can't announce its policies.

Bloomberg has an excellent article:

``The situation is now under control,'' Somchai told reporters outside of his house before heading to Parliament. ``We have an entrance open now.'' He said the police must ensure the session can proceed because lawmakers are ``representing the whole country.''

The use of tear gas may reinvigorate the five-month anti- government movement led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, which has waned since Somchai took office three weeks ago vowing to reconcile with demonstrators. Protesters accuse the government of being a proxy for exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.

``The People's Alliance is provoking confrontation,'' Thitinan Pongsudhirak, director of the Institute for Strategic and International Studies at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, said. ``Thailand has a perception that the state can't use force against protesters. This government is at a disadvantage from the onset.''


Thailand's key stock index has slumped 38 percent since protests began May 25, and economic growth slowed in the second quarter as domestic spending eased. Default-protection costs on Thailand's external debt rose to the highest in more than six years. Five-year credit-default swaps on Thailand's external debt were quoted 21 basis points higher at 206 as of 10:35 a.m. in Singapore, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The contracts were around 215 during New York trading yesterday, CMA Datavision prices show. The cost, which rises as perceptions of repayment ability deteriorate, is equivalent to $206,000 annually to protect $10 million in bonds.

``Political turmoil hasn't really affected the kind of things that we look at from a credit perspective,'' James McCormack, head of Asian sovereign rankings at Fitch Ratings in Hong Kong, said today. ``Having said that, the longer it goes on, the more likely it will.''

Barbed Wire, Metal Bars

The protesters blocked access to roads around Parliament, setting up barriers of tires stacked chest high next to barbed- wire fences. Many of them wore helmets and goggles, and they carried wooden planks and metal bars as weapons.

``Some of us got their feet blown up,'' Sawit Kaewwan, who led the group surrounding the Parliament building, told Channel 3 television network. ``It's not just tear gas as people got hurt from shrapnel.''

A person who answered the phone at Bangkok's Wachirapayaban [BP: hospital] said ``many dozens'' of injured protesters were being treated. Thai PBS reported about 70 people were hurt and that Queen Sirikit would pay the medical expenses of injured demonstrators.

``The police are doing their job,'' Somchai said. ``If they don't do that, the session can't begin. As far as I know, the police have performed quite tactfully.''

Thailand's lone opposition party said it will boycott today's parliament session following the violence, its spokesman said. A group of 80 senators may also fail to show up, Senator Somchai Sawaengkarn said in an interview with state-run Thai PBS channel.
...
``We came here to upgrade the rally and make a big noise,'' said Kusol Pravichpibul, 51, a protester who volunteered at a medical site near the Parliament building. ``It worked 100 percent.

BP: More in a couple of hours including some Abhisit quotes.

UPDATE: 13:00 Was yesterday's march on Parliament to coincide with the anniversary of the October 6, 1976 massacre?

BP: I also wonder if this is why the police held up responding until earlier this morning.

UPDATE: 12:30 Absolutely Bangkok has a post with photos and comments:

The next action of the PAD? We’re not about to face the final battle. The authorities will try to confine the angry People Against Democracy to Govt House where they can continue with their diatribes as long as they wish.

The BBC has a story and video (h/t Newley).

Thai Rath has a report from a director saying the injured are suffering from what appear shrapnel injuries.

BP: PAD will say it is the police, the police strenuously deny they used bombs or rubber bullets. It is just the same as after when the PAD when to the Metropolitan Police HQ in August where each side stated their case. Talking of the Metropolitan Police HQ:

Chaos broke out at the Metropolitan Police Bureau late Tuesday morning after teargas was reportedly threw into the police office and police fired teargas back.

The firing of police's teargas injured some People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters who were marching to join another group of protesters in front of the Parliament.

One of the protester was critically wounded in the leg, according to local reports.

A group of police and reporters inside the Metropolitan Police Bureau also suffered from the teargas.

BP: So did the reporters see anything? Do we have video this time?

The Democrats are upset and are suspending their previous support of constitutional reform through a constitutional drafting assembly as The Nation reports:

The main opposition party also suspended the quadrupartite agreement reached on Monday to form the Constitution Drafting Assembly in charge of political reforms.

The reform process will be put on hold until the government bring culprits in charge of crowd control to justice, the party said.

BP: And any demands for the PAD leaders to give themselves up? Is crowd control never justified?

The Nation has lots of photos and its homepage is calling it "Black October 2008" (apparently after the Black May protests in 1992 where at least 100 died upon being fired on with guns). The Manager has photos.

BP: Needless to say they will be calling on the government to resign tomorrow.

Earlier post below:

After the surrounding of Parliament, while maintaining their position at Government House, the government is no longer strictly remaining on the defensive. After an urgent cabinet meeting last night, PM Somchai W called on police to act and they have done so as the Bangkok Post reports:

Riot police launched a surprise tear-gas raid Tuesday morning to break up a siege and tear down barricades at parliament erected up overnight by supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

At around 6.20am, the PAD protesters retreated as unarmed police with shields and face masks moved through the barbed-wire barricades on Sukhothai and Rachavithi roads and tore them down.

Several people, including a local radio news reporter, were injured but it was not clear how their wounds occurred. One man appeared to have been hit by a tear-gas grenade as he he ran, breaking or tearing off part of his leg. Several people were carried from the protest by fellow demonstrators after the short tear-gas attack.

"I don't think there are many injuries," said Pol Maj Gen Viboon Bangthamai, who was at the scene.

Prime Minister and Defence Minister Somchai Wongsawat ordered police to clear the way into parliament for the scheduled policy debate on Tuesday morning. He had called an urgent cabinet meeting late Monday night after PAD human shields ringed parliament to prevent the meeting.

About five companies of police massed in riot formation marched up to parliament shortly after sunrise at 6am. Officers armed with grenade launchers immediately began firing tear gas cannisters at the barricades.

Most of the gas grenades burst in piles of tyres placed by the demonstrators as part of their barricade. With the CS gas still heavy in the air and wafting over the area, police moved in to tear down the steel gates and barbed wire that had been strung by the PAD.

Most of the policemen had no protection against the gas, and covered their faces with handkerchiefs. The PAD crowds pulled back from the area as police moved in to open roads and remove the protesters' barricades.

PAD supporters screamed at police through the loudspeaker system as officers moved in.

From the rear, PAD leader Somsak Kohsaisuk called on the PA system, "I call on our followers from all over the country to come to Bangkok to join us. The police are using tear gas, bombs and guns on us."

PAD founder and leader Sondhi Limthongkul could be heard deploring the "police attack on children in our midst" but he also did not come to the foreground of the action.

BP: Guns? Bombs? The Nation has the claims by Sondhi that rubber bullets were fired although the police deny this.

One of the government rationales is that it is constitutionally required to announce its national policy within 15 days, but the Democrats and Senators are burying this. Thai Rath reports that the Democrats are unsure whether they will participate in the policy debate. Nevertheless, they are on the attack with chief opposition whip Satit Wongnongtaey stating in Thai Rath that the policy debate will now be on the bloodshed of the people. 80 of the 150 Senators, including all 74 Senators, state they will not attend the debate after the use of tear gas.

UPDATE: Just as I am to post, Abhisit says (Matichon) the Democrats won't attend the debate.

The police and the government might face problems with HM the Queen expressing concern over the injured.

BP: The reports of injuries vary between 40-70 with a couple seriously injured.

btw, here is a picture of the PAD barricades.