Dramatic Evacuation for Foreign Leaders

[Gaybutton]

For more special reports and photos see:

 

http://www.pattayaone.net/news

-and-

http://www.pattayadailynews.com/shownews.p...NEWS=0000008883

 

The following appears in the BANGKOK POST:

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Dramatic Evacuation Ends Chaotic Asean Summit

 

By: AFP

 

Pattaya - Thundering low over the beach, helicopters airlifted bewildered foreign leaders in extraordinary scenes after red-shirts swarmed the luxury hotel venue.

 

Thousands of supporters loyal to fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra barged past lines of soldiers and riot police, smashing their way through the glass doors of the upscale hotel hosting the Asean talks.

 

Hooting horns and yelling slogans, they streamed into the building and through the media centre, astonishing dozens of journalists as they rampaged towards an adjacent building where leaders were holding a luncheon.

 

Hotel staff quickly cleared the restaurants and hustled bikini-clad tourists out of the pool as the protesters staged a sit-in rally at the heart of the summit, blocked by security forces with flak jackets and shotguns.

 

"The commotion made us nervous," said one shaken hotel worker, a young waitress named Sureerat.

 

Embattled premier Abhisit Vejjajiva quickly appeared on live television, telling the divided nation that the summit of 16 Asian nations was cancelled because of the protesters, who are demanding his resignation.

 

In a dramatic move, he called a state of emergency for Pattaya -- one of Thailand's top tourist destinations -- and the surrounding province to assist the immediate evacuation of the visiting heads of state.

 

"The government has a duty to take care of the leaders who will depart from Thailand," Mr Abhisit said in the address, which went out on all channels.

 

"In this extremely serious situation, the government has decided to impose a state of emergency in Pattaya and Chonburi to deal with the situation."

 

Within minutes, the deafening noise of the protesters, which had echoed through the halls of the venue, was replaced by the thumping of the helicopter blades as the aircraft swooped onto the hotel's rooftop.

 

Mr Abhisit - the number-one target of the demonstrators - was the first to fly out of town, whisked away to the Vietnam War-era U-Tapao military airfield near Pattaya.

 

The leaders of the Philippines, Myanmar and Vietnam followed by choppers to the airstrip, where planes were on standby to take them home. Other leaders left by road but all were evacuated within hours of the ruckus.

 

A Southeast Asian diplomat said visiting dignitaries were not perturbed about the "captain of the ship" leaving first.

 

"Abhisit was the target of the protesters and if he remained here, the other leaders would have been endangered," he said.

 

Left behind were shell-shocked delegates and media, who stood amidst the debris including toppled metal detectors, smashed reception tables and small pools of blood where some protesters had been injured by broken glass.

 

At a Japanese restaurant overlooking the poolside, hotel staff locked the glass doors but opened them briefly to allow in stranded guests as well as police shuttling in and out of the hotel.

 

However, a group of foreign diplomats' wives nonchalantly finished their sushi lunch.

 

"We are used to these demonstrations here," said Janet Rodriguez, wife of the Filipino ambassador to Thailand, while observing that the invasion of the summit venue "is not a sign of strength" for the host nation.

 

Luggage was strewn all over the lobby of the Royal Cliff Beach Resort, as delegates checked out en masse.

 

"We have to pull out now," said the aide of one Southeast Asian leader, barking orders from a hand-held radio as his 50-member delegation prepared to travel to the nearby airbase.

 

"Thailand should not have allowed this to happen. How could they have allowed the protesters to go this far? They should have blocked them before they reached here," he said.

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And this:

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Tourism Severely Hit by UDD

 

The tourism sector has expressed concern over actions of the red-shirt movement, warning that tourism revenue this year could plummet at least 30 percent.

 

The government's decision to enforce the Emergency Decree in Pattaya and Chon Buri would have a serious effect on the industry, Tourism Council of Thailand president Kongkrit Hirunkit said on Saturday.

 

Leaders from 15 Asian countries came to Thailand to attend the Asean Summit and related summits. Foreign tourists might take the view the government could not guarantee their safety if it could not prevent the protesters breaking into the summit venue.

 

He said the activities by United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) protesters were as bad as the actions of People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters.

 

The PAD yellow-shirt protesters occupied Suvarnabhumi airport late last year and it would take six to nine months for local tourism to recover, he said.

 

The tourism sector, which generated about 540 billion baht annually, may lose up to 200 billion baht this year because of the red-shirt anti-government movement. More than two million people working in the tourism industry would be affected.

 

Thai Hotels Association chairman Prakit Chinamourphong said the UDD protest was no different than the closure of Suvarnabhumi airport by the PAD last year.

 

It would definitely hit the tourism sector significantly, and holding tourism roadshows now would be pointless because people in other countries may already have lost confidence in Thailand .

 

Mr Prakit condemned the red-shirt movement, saying it was terrible because it damaged the whole country just to benefit one person.

 

Association of Thai Travel Agents chairman Apichart Sankary criticised the government for failing to maintain order and security during the regional meetings.

 

The government should not hope to host major international events again, he said.

[Guest fountainhall]

What an utter disaster for Abhisit and his government - and for the country! And it could so easily have been prevented if only he and they had shown some form of firm leadership. He has to resign.

[Guest lvdkeyes]

What an utter disaster for Abhisit and his government - and for the country! And it could so easily have been prevented if only he and they had shown some form of firm leadership. He has to resign.

If he resigns then what happens? One of Toxin's cronies gets back in and it starts all over again. I don't think the police have the manpower to combat such a huge mob as the red shirts. I think what Abhisit eventually did was the right thing to do, he should have done it sooner, but I don't think his resignation is called for. IMHO (Besides, he is so cute. LOL)

[Guest fountainhall]

Cute he may be but many times he staked his reputation on this summit - and he not only failed, he has failed utterly miserably. Any reasonably senior officer in the security business would know how to guard and keep secure a Conference of this nature. After all, the leaders of all the national delegations will have had top security chiefs with them. But Abhisit, despite controlling his nation's police force and its entire army, navy and air force, let a few hundred protestors kill the whole summit. His embarrassment, and the embarrassment of the country, is massive.

 

More than that, he has let Thaksin's forces - which seemed to be on the decline - gain complete control again. Do you think they will let up now that they have this victory? Of course not. There is no way Abhisit can continue in office after this debacle.

 

I have no desire whatever to see Thaksin's forces back in control. But someone has to show leadership and not simply be in control but be seen to be in control. Abhisit has shown he is woefully incapable in this respect.

[Gaybutton]

But someone has to show leadership and not simply be in control but be seen to be in control.

Never fear. I know just the right guy:

 

[Guest fountainhall]

Hehe! How about the dear Ms. Palin? At least she is still alive and kicking. Quayle seems to have been 'dead' for years. Maybe Cheney shot him on one of his shoots

 

Seriously, I think the top brass in the armed forces and the police have now been so humiliated by the Pattaya disaster that I don't rule out another coup.

[Gaybutton]

I don't rule out another coup.

Funny you should say that. Rumors of a possible coup are already circulating.

[Guest pingalicker]

Just thank your lucky stars that the Busch regime is no longer in power or we could have another take over.................

[Guest HeyGay]

Enimies of the State.

Its just beyond belief that the Thai Government let these new Neo-Nazis, get with in a few miles of the Asean Summit, with all these foreign leaders there. What is this government thinking about, they have the Army behind them, so what they worried about, crush the Mob?

 

 

May be they don't want to upset the red shirted Anti royalists, in case they start to show there true colors, anarchy. Murder, bullying, anything Hitler would be proud of.

 

If the Thai Government can’t get their own house in order, what do they think the World leaders are going to think of such weakness, when it comes to helping them in the future?

 

At last they have arrested the Leaders of the Red Shirts bit late now?

see below.

 

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...ed-shirts-claim

Dramatic actions by the govenment ahead.

 

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/breakingne...aw-and-order-du

[Guest fountainhall]

Rumors of a possible coup are already circulating

 

I cannot see any alternative. The Abhisit government's idiotic incompetence has handed the political initiative on a solid gold platter to the Thaksin red shirt mob. Did the mob do this by massive force or by taking over a mega-airport? Oh no! After weeks of the best security minds in the country planning to ensure nothing would go wrong with this major international event, just a few hundred breached a supposedly secure cordon of Thailand's supposedly elite forces. Just a few HUNDRED? Come on, guys! This was toytown stuff!

 

So the mob is now back in Bangkok and, like their yellow compatriots before them, they won't let up until their goals are met - i.e. the resignation of the government and new elections. If Abhisit uses force to disperse them now, he's politically 'dead'.

 

But if an election is held, he's 'dead' anyway, because it's all but certain Thaksin's forces will be returned to power. At that point, you'll see legislation enacted to annul his criminal activity and pave the way for his return. There are too many powerful people in the country who fear just this. They will exert their influence on the army to step in, precisely to ensure it does not happen.

 

What happens thereafter . . . ? I wish I knew. The army had quite a lot going for it in the last coup, and blew it spectacularly. They could not even get the legal cases against Thaksin to court before they handed over to the incoming civilian government. Much worse, people all around the country have now realised that mob rule is far more effective than parliamentary democracy. Perhaps this will mean more mob protests against gay events as happened in Chiang Mai last month. This, remember, was allowed to happen as the forces of law and order looked on and just stood quietly to one side? How may criminal cases are presently pending on this? None that I have read about.

 

What sane, sensible, civic-minded, uncorrupt individual will want to be a politician in Thailand now? (Mind you, perhaps there are none )

 

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva Sunday vowed to take drastic actions to show that the rule of law will prevail. . . He would prove his words with actions and management. If his government fails to do so, the persons in charge will take responsibility.

 

I love this quote from The Nation (see previous post). Did I mishear - or was he not the one with the 'read my lips' act when confirming the ASEAN summit would go ahead come hell or high water? And who was in charge then, Mr. Prime Minister? And who is ultimately the person in charge now, Mr. Prime Minister? I rest my case!

[Gaybutton]

I cannot see any alternative.

I can. Don't forget, the last military coup came about for the purpose of ousting Thaksin. What reason would the military have for a reversal and bringing back a triumphant Thaksin?

 

I believe a coup will not occur unless the Red Shirts continue dramatic demonstrations, such as Pattaya, to the point that the military decides that the whole country will go under unless something drastic is done.

 

I also believe a military government would never allow a situation to develop that would allow Thaksin to return under any circumstance except his arrest. I think the military views Thaksin in the same manner by which the Burmese government views Suu Kyi. Unless there has been a radical change, I can't imagine the military supporting Thaksin. I think if they did, then there already would have been a coup.

[Guest fountainhall]

In case my point was not so clear, I agree with you. The military will step in to prevent Thaksin from coming back - certainly not to assist in that process. As I said, "There are too many powerful people in the country who fear just this. They will exert their influence on the army to step in, precisely to ensure it does not happen."