Gaybutton Posted October 7, 2008 Posted October 7, 2008 The following appears in THE NATION: _____ Police Break up Parliament's Blockade with Tear Gases By The Nation Dozens of protesters injured; one lost leg, one reporter injured; opposition may boycott policy debate Police fire dozens of tear gases at protesters, who staged a blockade outside Parliament at 6:20 am, injuring dozens of demonstrators. A protester lost his leg because of the explosion of the tear gases during the disperse and one reporter was injured. The firing of tear gases managed to open an access to Parliament at the gate on Phichai Road. Leading members of the People's Alliance for Democracy urged the protesters to remain protesting there. Police took about 20 minutes to break open the blockade at the gate on Phichai Road. TV scenes showed police in gas protecting masks pushing protesters back from the gate. Many protesters were seen washing their face with water and many injured protesters were seen carried away by their peers. The PAD leaders inside Government House urged the protesters there to move reinforce the protesters at Parliament. Pipop Thongchai, a PAD leader, condemned police's use of force against the protesters. Sathit Wongnongtoey, chief opposition whip, said the Democrat Party leaders would hold an urgent meeting to discuss the situation and opposition may boycott the protest. Sathit said the use of force against protesters prompted the opposition to doubt the government's reconciliatory policy. He said he wondered why police fired tear gars into the people. "You can see on TVs that tears gases even cut off tree branches, let a lone the protester's leg," Sathit said. ____________________ The following appears in the BANGKOK POST: _____ PAD Siege Broken 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 it exploded, tearing off part of his leg. "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. Several people were carried from the protest by fellow demonstrators after the short tear-gas attack, but it was not clear if there were any casualties when police moved in to clear the human blockade of parliament. 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 canisters 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, but the actual PAD core leaders were not seen. 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. Quote
Gaybutton Posted October 7, 2008 Author Posted October 7, 2008 Here is a report from AP: _____ BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -- Police fired tear gas Tuesday at several thousand demonstrators attempting to block access by lawmakers to Parliament, heating up a political crisis that has gripped the country for six weeks. Reporters at the scene heard sounds of gunfire, but police Maj. Gen. Viboon Bangthamai said that only tear gas was being used against the crowd in Bangkok. Sixty-five people were injured, including two seriously, said Petpong Kumtonkitjakarn of the Erawan Medical Center. "One of them lost his leg, another was hit with shrapnel in the chest," he said. The morning clashes came just hours before Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who was sworn in September 25, was scheduled to deliver his government's policy statement to lawmakers. Anti-government protesters who have occupied the grounds of the prime minister's office for six weeks had marched Monday night to the streets outside Parliament, vowing to block lawmakers from entering the building. After the morning clashes, thousands of protesters regrouped in front of Parliament where speakers addressed the crowd from a makeshift stage. "Fight with us in protecting this country! Stay with us here until we have our victory," a speaker told the cheering crowd. The action by the People's Alliance for Democracy -- which is seeking the government's resignation and a major overhaul of the electoral system -- came in response to the recent arrests of two of its leaders, and seemed intended to spark a confrontation to revive its flagging movement. The alliance says Somchai is a proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006 by military leaders who accused him of corruption and who now resides in exile. Somchai is a brother-in-law of Thaksin. When protesters originally took over the grounds of Government House on August 26, their intention was to oust then Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej -- whom they also accused of being a puppet of Thaksin. However, they later said they also opposed his successor, Somchai. Samak was dismissed from office on September 9 by a court decision that found him guilty on a conflict of interest charge. He had accepted pay for hosting a TV show while in office. At the nearby Government House, protest leaders called for supporters to join their ranks. "Brothers and sisters, please come out and help us," said Somsak Kosaisuk, one of nine protest leaders. "We were protesting peacefully. I urge you to come out to join us in our fight against this illegitimate government." "We will not stop," Somsak said. "We will fight until we have our victory!" The alliance claims Thailand's rural majority -- who gave landslide election victories to the current government -- is too poorly educated to responsibly choose their representatives and says they are susceptible to vote buying. The protest group wants the country to abandon the system of one-man, one-vote, and instead have a mixed system in which some representatives are chosen by certain professions and social groups. They have not explained how exactly such a system would work or what would make it less susceptible to manipulation. Quote
