I walked around Silom this afternoon . Except for an Army presence, it is pretty much back to normal. Barricades, wire etc are all gone except for a few spots where it has been rolled up but not removed.
Skytrain is normal and everything is open. Traffic is back to normal flow but very light at least at 1pm.
Thanks for the update.
It doesn't look like things are about to end immediately. Red Shirts are being very uncooperative and ambiguous. The government is getting in better position to justify using more aggressive means to end the protest.
This might not be entirely accurate as it's very quick, but what I gather from a quick glance is...
1. Abhisit has firmly said the Red Shirts should pack up and leave now that they've accepted the road map.
2. Abhisit has threatened to withdraw the offer and push elections back if they don't coorperate.
3. Abhisit says they're cutting off power, water and food supplies to the protest site from midnight tonight. They will also restrict access, which means no one will be allowed to enter the area (including residents).
4. Red Shirts have responded with the equivalent of, "f*ckk off"... stating they will not end their protest and will remain there for now.
5. Government has warned power and water will be cut to the area of the protest... warning residents and businesses that they would be affected as well. They've asked residents to leave.
6. Government has made less-specific comments that they will now start to "disperse" protesters. I suppose this may mean messy removal by force.
Looks like they're now using cdnmatt's "starve 'em out" Canadian wild west strategy... hehe.
This looks pretty f*cked. Unless there is some significant positive dialogue soon, it will probably get very messy.
A few things on the sidelines, which may affect next steps are:
1. Red Shirts are demanding the government (one specific figure) take responsibility for the previous clash, which killed 25 people (i.e. moving the goal posts so they can better justify continuing the protest).
2. Bangkok court has rejected a petition from the protest leaders asking for their arrest warrants to be dropped (i.e. protest leaders know they're f*cked the minute the protest ends so they are less likely to let it end peacefully now).
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Thai authorities vow to squeeze protesters
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/th ... 5865573285
THAI authorities said today they would cut power and water supplies to anti-government "Red Shirt" protesters occupying a commercial district in the capital Bangkok.
"The measures will start at midnight tonight, including the cutting off of power, water and telephones," Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, spokesman for the government agency dealing with the two-month old crisis, said.
"All kinds of infrastructure, including buses and trains, waterway services will be blocked," he said.
"We will also block their food supply."
He added non-protesters living in the area as well as embassies would be affected by the measures.
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'Red Shirts' defy authorities' threat to cut food, water
http://www.news.com.au/breaking-news/re ... 5865636065
NTI-GOVERNMENT "Red Shirt" protesters have rejected the Thai Prime Minister's demand to end their rally in the capital Bangkok by the end of the day or face life without food or water.
Authorities have vowed to ban supplies to the protesters camped in the heart of the capital as hopes fade for a resolution to the crippling standoff. Power, phone and transport links would also be cut.
"We have made a decision to continue to call for justice for our people here," leader of the protest movement, Nattawut Saikuar, said at the demonstrators' sprawling encampment in the heart of Bangkok.
"If the government wants to take any more lives, they can come and get them here."
Embattled Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has demanded the protests end today. Authorities have asked residents to leave the area occupied by the protesters ahead of the crackdown due from midnight.
Their leaders have vowed to continue their rally until deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban is charged for his role overseeing a deadly April 10 crackdown, when armed troops attempted to clear part of the capital.
Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, a spokesman for the government unit set up to deal with the crisis, has warned authorities are ready to disperse protesters if necessary. "This is the beginning of measures to fully impose the law," he said.
"To the residents in the area: please leave. After midnight, authorities will not allow anyone to come in," he said.
The movement has said it agrees to Mr Abhisit's reconciliation roadmap to elections on November 14, but it wants to see the government take responsibility for the April 10 incident, in which 25 people lost their lives.
"None of the Red Shirts are afraid of your threats to cut water and power. We will run at soldiers with our two bare hands even if they fire at us with assault rifles," said one protest leader, Weng Tojirakarn.
"We just want Suthep Thaugsuban to publicly surrender himself to police," he said from a stage in the sprawling rally site in the capital where several shopping centres and upscale hotels have been forced to close temporarily.
Mr Abhisit has warned he may scrap the plan for early elections if the protesters do not leave their vast base, which has been fortified with barricades made from piles of fuel-soaked tyres, bamboo poles and razor wire.
The Red Shirts say the government is undemocratic because it came to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote after a court ruling ousted elected allies of their hero, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was unseated in a 2006 coup.
Twenty-nine people have been killed and almost 1000 injured in Bangkok in a series of confrontations and attacks, in Thailand's worst political violence in almost two decades.
Protest leaders asked a Bangkok court on Tuesday for arrest warrants against them to be dropped, but their petition was rejected.
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I just kinda hope the government isn't actually going to shut off ALL water in the area. The red shirts are fairly well armed with grenades and molotov cocktails, plus they've barricaded themselves into the site with walls of gasoline soaked tires and bamboo sticks.Originally Posted by Beachlover
Let's hope the government leaves a couple valves on, so emergency services can put out the fires, or else we're going to have quite few BBQd red-shirts.
Oh, what this? Sympathy? What happened to the "send in the kill machines" and "f*ck the protesters" rant? :P
Yep... The rocket's not pointing in a good direction right now so I hope it doesn't go off.
I'm worried it's going start feeling like we're watching a very slow giant car accident.
It looks like I will postpone my trip again. :bounce:
Was in BKK since May 7 and although protesters in their incampment making ungodly mess of the landscape, didn't impact on me much. Have just spoken to a friend, who works at The Nation, and she has informed me that the OP is correct and things are underway which signals an end to the protest. Will take a little while to die completely but I wouldn't cancel a trip because of it.
Cheers
Krobbie
That sounds promising but how will the government calling off the 14 Nov elections affect this?
http://bangkokpost.com/news/thaksin-jud ... tion-offer
Surely this will send them nuts won't it?
"Normal"...a wee bit premature, methinks.
I would NOT go out tonight if I were you.
Good advice.
It's nice the soldiers have armoured personnel carriers this time.
Let's hope it's mopped up quickly.
They had them last time http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/thak...ay-of-violence
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