Gaybutton Posted August 29, 2008 Posted August 29, 2008 The PAD protesters have begun to flex their muscles with the police. The sympathetic railroad strike is now in effect and nobody seems to know how long that will last (see "Railroad Trains to Halt Service Throughout Thailand" thread for the latest information). Nobody seems to have any idea how long the protest is going to continue, when it will end, or how it will end. For whatever reasons, in my opinion the protesters are deliberately trying to provoke the government into taking violent action. The whole thing reminds me of "Seven Days in May," when President Lyman finally confronts General Scott and accuses him of trying to stage a coup. At first General Scott denies any such thing, but he finally loses his temper and admits that's exactly what he's trying to do. The President loses his temper too and reminds the general there is a political system in place if he disagrees so strongly with the government policies. He tells the general that if he wants to become president himself, instead of resorting to aggression and violence, "Then by God run for office!" The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ Shoving Match (BangkokPost.com) Latest Protesters armed with clubs pushed and forced police off the grounds of Government House early on Friday morning as a senior PAD member threatened to make demonstrations "more aggressive". The 1am confrontation ended with 400 police retreating to the street after being threatened by demonstrators armed with sticks and golf clubs. After their muscle-flexing "victory", the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters celebrated by dancing to rock music. "We can relax now, but please be cautious, they might return soon," a protest organiser told the gathering, now in its four day of occupying Government House, despite a court order to leave. The PAD protest aims to throw Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his government out of office. One of the top alliance leaders, retired Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, said on Thursday night that the "legal" protest would continue to no matter what the court ordered. He is one of nine leaders sought for arrest by police. He insisted the protesters were doing nothing wrong. He stated: "We are staging a protest because the government has made too many mistakes and has no legitimacy to run the country. From now on, it will be stickier. Our political rallying will get stronger because more of our supporters from upcountry will come to help us. We will not back down." His successor-in-waiting - ready to take over if police actually arrest Maj-Gen Chamlong - said on Thursday he will step up the protest and get more aggressive. Former commander of the Internal Security Operations Command retired but influential army Gen Panlop Pinmanee appeared to issue a direct threat to the government: "Go tell Mr Samak if he is brave he must over the arrest of Maj-Gen Chamlong and the other core leaders and disperse the protest. "Once the arrests are made, I will volunteer as the next leader in lieu of Chamlong as we have made some commitments. As a friend, I will pursue his goal. I need only two days and everything will end. "In this situation, Maj-Gen Chamlong or Samak cannot take a step back. There must be a breaking point, otherwise the country will become disheartened. If we want to remove an abscess, we must be ready to face pain to get rid of the infectious part." Gen Panlop is generally known as the foremost expert and practitioner of dirty tricks in Thailand. He was fired by ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra two years ago after a bombing attempt on the life of Mr. Thaksin. Although he denied any involvement in that incident, Gen. Panlop openly bragged that "If I were behind it, the prime minister would be dead". Quote
