Thai Protests Mark Six Months After Crackdown
Thousands of anti-government protesters gathered in Bangkok Friday to mark the 6 moth anniversary of the military crackdown.
By THOMAS FULLER and SETH MYDANS
Published: November 19, 2010
BANGKOK — Thousands of anti-government demonstrators blocked a major intersection in the commercial heart of the Thai capital on Friday, to mark the passage of six months since a bloody military crackdown on street protests.
The protest underlined the resilience of what is known as the Red Shirt movement in Thailand. It remains active despite the efforts by a hostile military leadership to dismantle it and the government’s attempts to block access to Internet sites and other media dedicated to the protest movement.
“You can’t kill us all,” said Jatuporn Prompan, an opposition member of Parliament who was one of the organizers of the protests in April and May. “Thank you, everyone, for coming, because the big battle is still ahead,” he told a crowd that the police estimated at 10,000 people.
The crowd, which began dispersing at dusk, had gathered in the shadow of a shopping mall that was burned by arsonists when troops stormed the area in May.
About 90 people were killed during the protests and the crackdown.
“People died here,” the crowd chanted on Friday.
Many of the demonstrators wore red shirts as a sign of defiance toward the government. Government-appointed panels have been slow to investigate the perpetrators of the violence six months ago, especially shootings that many people believe were carried out by the military.
Nipa Panitpichetvong, a 53-year-old bank employee in the crowd Friday, said she had joined the protest movement to show her anger against the military for “shooting the people.”
“The government says they didn’t do it, but I don’t believe them,” she said.
Like many protesters, she said she had learned of the planned demonstration through postings on Facebook pages and other Internet sites. “Now we have no leaders, because they are in prison,” she said. “We have to come together by ourselves.”
As a member of parliament, Mr. Jatuporn has been immune from arrest, but that immunity expires later this month. There is wide speculation in the Thai news media that he will be arrested soon after.
Protest movements have waxed and waned since a 2006 military coup removed Thaksin Shinawatra, the polarizing business tycoon turned politician who was prime minister at the time. The deep divisions in Thai society revolve around the future of the country’s constitutional monarchy; the power wielded by people who are not elected officials, especially the bureaucracy; and a perceived double standard between the traditional elite and the developing middle class.
Most of the Red Shirt protest organizers have been denied bail and are being kept in custody. But the leaders of another mass political movement, the royalist Yellow Shirts who shut down Bangkok’s airports two years ago when Mr. Thaksin’s allies were in power, remain free.
Mr. Thaksin was popular in the countryside for policies that benefited rural people and the poor, but was despised by the royalists, who felt threatened by his power.
Economic growth has accelerated in Thailand this year. Tourists have come back after shunning the country during the protests and violence in May, and most of the country remains largely free of strife. But persistent political problems and the frictions created by the military’s ascendant power continue to gnaw at the country’s stability.
The royalists have announced a fresh round of protests starting next week.
By THOMAS FULLER and SETH MYDANS
Published: November 19, 2010
BANGKOK — Thousands of anti-government demonstrators blocked a major intersection in the commercial heart of the Thai capital on Friday, to mark the passage of six months since a bloody military crackdown on street protests.
The protest underlined the resilience of what is known as the Red Shirt movement in Thailand. It remains active despite the efforts by a hostile military leadership to dismantle it and the government’s attempts to block access to Internet sites and other media dedicated to the protest movement.
“You can’t kill us all,” said Jatuporn Prompan, an opposition member of Parliament who was one of the organizers of the protests in April and May. “Thank you, everyone, for coming, because the big battle is still ahead,” he told a crowd that the police estimated at 10,000 people.
The crowd, which began dispersing at dusk, had gathered in the shadow of a shopping mall that was burned by arsonists when troops stormed the area in May.
About 90 people were killed during the protests and the crackdown.
“People died here,” the crowd chanted on Friday.
Many of the demonstrators wore red shirts as a sign of defiance toward the government. Government-appointed panels have been slow to investigate the perpetrators of the violence six months ago, especially shootings that many people believe were carried out by the military.
Nipa Panitpichetvong, a 53-year-old bank employee in the crowd Friday, said she had joined the protest movement to show her anger against the military for “shooting the people.”
“The government says they didn’t do it, but I don’t believe them,” she said.
Like many protesters, she said she had learned of the planned demonstration through postings on Facebook pages and other Internet sites. “Now we have no leaders, because they are in prison,” she said. “We have to come together by ourselves.”
As a member of parliament, Mr. Jatuporn has been immune from arrest, but that immunity expires later this month. There is wide speculation in the Thai news media that he will be arrested soon after.
Protest movements have waxed and waned since a 2006 military coup removed Thaksin Shinawatra, the polarizing business tycoon turned politician who was prime minister at the time. The deep divisions in Thai society revolve around the future of the country’s constitutional monarchy; the power wielded by people who are not elected officials, especially the bureaucracy; and a perceived double standard between the traditional elite and the developing middle class.
Most of the Red Shirt protest organizers have been denied bail and are being kept in custody. But the leaders of another mass political movement, the royalist Yellow Shirts who shut down Bangkok’s airports two years ago when Mr. Thaksin’s allies were in power, remain free.
Mr. Thaksin was popular in the countryside for policies that benefited rural people and the poor, but was despised by the royalists, who felt threatened by his power.
Economic growth has accelerated in Thailand this year. Tourists have come back after shunning the country during the protests and violence in May, and most of the country remains largely free of strife. But persistent political problems and the frictions created by the military’s ascendant power continue to gnaw at the country’s stability.
The royalists have announced a fresh round of protests starting next week.
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