BBC live updates on the crisis in BKK

[lonelywombat]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8682122.stm

this is a blog up to the minute, but maybe not accurate. Frightening

[Beachlover]

Keep an eye on this map too:

http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8& ... b87b0951c0 (http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&oe=UTF8&msa=0&msid=116480606892254086046.0004817fafbb87b0951c0)

[Koh Samui Luv]

Also, remember the sage advice of J. G. Ballard:

"The most prudent and effective method of dealing with the world around us is to assume that it is a complete fiction." -introduction, Crash, 1995

...and a few years later he wrote to a friend:

"The advanced societies of the future will not be governed by reason. They will be driven by irrationality, by competing systems of psychopathology." -J. G. Ballard, letter, 2003

...but he was hardly alone in his observations of where we are heading:

"We're comic. We're all comics. We live in a comic time. And the worse it gets the more comic we are." тАУ William Gaddis

.... and remember if you want to watch "live" TV you can by using http://www.unblockvpn.com

Costs only about 3 quid a month, so cheap.

This is brilliant site and links your computer to UK or European internet. BBC is "live" now - i.e.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/watchlive

This will not work if you are not connected to a UK/European internet.

[cdnmatt]

I'm still waiting for footage of drunk farangs with their bottles of Chang, mingling with the red shirts, both fists above their head, screaming "We want democracy!"

[maisoui]

I'm still waiting for footage of drunk farangs with their bottles of Chang, mingling with the red shirts, both fists above their head, screaming "We want democracy!"

There was one such idiot on the BBC 10 o'clock news tonight. It was clearly not Davnick Cleggameron.

[paperboy]

any news
its went all quiet :alc:

Try:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/
and
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/

This is a BBC link if you can view it of course:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 683939.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8683939.stm)

At the end of this video, there is a Brit guy, the Reporter says:

"We met a protester running for cover, a Londoner, living here, and helping the Reds cause" .

The guy from London says:

"This could have been dealt with so easily, but it has come to this just because of the arrogrance and the rich people not wanting to loose face. This is the land of smiles is it? I don't think so.".

[Beachlover]

I'm still waiting for footage of drunk farangs with their bottles of Chang, mingling with the red shirts, both fists above their head, screaming "We want democracy!"

With bullets flying overhead.... That would be a real TIT moment.

[krobbie]

Now BKK is a bit of a war zone so we will be down by the river, at Sathorn, for the 5 days I have left. No BTS. Crap.

[Beachlover]

This isn't really sustainable... The army needs to clear them out quickly.

The red shirts are making it sound like the army is cruelly attacking them... but it looks like most of the gunfire and deaths have been when red shirts from the outside try to enter the protest zone. If they are getting shot doing that then it's their own doing... But unfortunately it's not just protesters getting shot.

[anakot]

This is a BBC link if you can view it of course:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-p ... 683939.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8683939.stm)

At the end of this video, there is a Brit guy, the Reporter says:

"We met a protester running for cover, a Londoner, living here, and helping the Reds cause" .

The guy from London says:

"This could have been dealt with so easily, but it has come to this just because of the arrogrance and the rich people not wanting to loose face. This is the land of smiles is it? I don't think so.".

All in all BBC coverage is pathetic.

[Beachlover]

This video shows army snipers at work (second half of the video).

Sobering to imagine who's on the other end.

[youtube:2lx0o83a]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sAc_iecUgkw[/youtube:2lx0o83a]

[Beachlover]

-----
Excerpt from: http://www.reporterinexile.com/2010/05/ ... lence.html (http://www.reporterinexile.com/2010/05/crackdown-devolves-into-sustained-ambient-violence.html)

The crowd was cheering and clapping, but making no threatening moves toward soldiers apart from the usual sling-shot silliness. This young soldier freaks out and opens up with his rifle. Right into civilians and reporters. I assume ammo is live and sure enough as we clear from center of road, I see old man take a headshot and go down face-first into the street. He was in death spasms by the time they pulled him into the gas station. French photog who was behind soldiers said young shooter got a verbal rebuke and soft cuff to the face from his CO.

--------

[Geezer]

тАЬтАжmaking no threatening moves toward soldiers apart from the usual sling-shot silliness.тАЭ

Tell that to Goliath.

[Beachlover]

WARNING: Photos in this link (of the incident described above) are pretty graphic.

Photos and descriptions from a guy who was clearly too close to the action:

http://www.reporterinexile.com/2010/05/ ... ngkok.html (http://www.reporterinexile.com/2010/05/pictures-from-two-nights-in-bangkok.html)

I guess after so many other soldiers were killed in previous incidents, these young guys are keen to stay alive and being very proactive about it.

[Beachlover]

Red shirts drag soldiers out of a truck and shoot one with his own rifle:

[youtube:cqa6zkae]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rGqZDvRa_U[/youtube:cqa6zkae]

[Beachlover]

Someone else who was clearly too close to the action.

This is a pretty shocking report with photos of protesters being shot and chased down by soldiers... Some are quite young and look terrified. One of the soldiers screams at a protester with a stomach wound that he should be dead, instead of making them take him to hospital.

I guess they're just sick of the protesters... they really should've gone home by now.

http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandal ... ling-zone/ (http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2010/05/16/nick-nostitz-in-the-killing-zone/)

------

With terror I realized that the soldiers began moving to us. Shots were fired into the gas station. I hid first behind a car parked there, but had a bad feeling that I was in the very wrong spot, and that I had to get out as fast as I could. I ran back to the toilets, about 40 meters, realizing that I was shot at while I was running.

------

[Beachlover]

Looks like there's a light at the end of the tunnel... but still a fair distance away:

- Government's asked the Red Cross and other organisations to coordinate an evacuation of women and children from the protest site.

- Government's asking all protesters protesters to leave by 3pm Monday... women/children can leave freely... men have to register before leaving.

- Government's about to confirm an official curfew time.

- Government's confirmed soldiers are authorised to fire on anyone who approaches within a certain distance carrying a weapon.

- Red shirt leaders have made an appeal to the King to help. If he doesn't respond, they will be pretty f*cked.

-------------------------

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiap ... tml?hpt=T1 (http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/05/16/thailand.anti-government.protests/index.html?hpt=T1)

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/thaksin ... cted-today (http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/thaksin-judgement-update/178083/curfew-expected-today)

--------------------------

It looks like there could be an end in sight now. You can sort of see where the Government was going with all this over the last 2-3 days and how they intend to end it.

The red shirts were full of bravado at the beginning, but after 1-2 days of the army clamping down pretty hard on them, many of the protesters are probably quite terrified.

I mean, they can taunt all they want and maybe let off the odd grenade but they're no match for soldiers and snipers with assault rifles. A lot of them are learning that if they're caught out in the open when the firing starts, there's not much they can do other than curl up and pray. There's no surrendering when soldiers are 50 metres away and can't hear you.

It's not been pretty, but it looks like the government has a good chance of mopping it up within the next 1-2 days... unless the red shirts pull out something else. But I think this is less likely to happen now that the ordinary protesters have seen and felt what the army is prepared to do.

It really looks like the red shirts are f*cked, unless they pull out something new now. They really should have "quit while they were ahead" by accepting the road map.

What do you think the chances of Bangkok being back to normal within this week are? If the government does end the protests, what will the red shirt's next move be?

[thrillbill]

Have to admit that Al Jazeera had the best fair coverage of the BKK situation. CNN and BBC were frustrating for me to watch since they loved to make it a simple fairy tale of the "rich vs. the poor". Very little was mentioned about how the people of BKK had to deal with their take over of the city for two months or the "thug's" craziness (creating their own road blocks; stopping the Skytrains; shooting grenades into Silom; barging into the hospital...) or even Abhisit's offer of an early election before the military took action (finally). This whole mess could have been avoided if the RED Leaders had not followed Thaksin's advice in refusing the PM's road map to elections. Al Jazeera shined during this crisis as a more reliable news channel.