Rally fizzles out amid safety fears

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Rally fizzles out amid safety fears

Boonlert says authorities inciting violence

Published: 24 Nov 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Pitak Siam leader Boonlert Kaewprasit ended his anti-government rally and his own brief political career on a drizzly Saturday afternoon after a day of high drama and scattered violence.

A Pitak Siam protester holds up a tear-gas canister that police had fired near the Makkawan Bridge on Saturday morning.

Addressing an estimated 20,000 supporters from the Royal Plaza stage, he asked them to disperse peacefully.

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airborne
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Discussion 119 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.32119
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Let's be clear. Dictators do not allow descent.
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bangna63
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Discussion 118 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.32118
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I am overseas and can access the BP but The Nation is blocked off. Anyone from the relevant government agency or the BP explain this 'democratic' scenario?
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termsak
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Discussion 117 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.32117
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Please note the only violence occurred today was by the police who refused the protestors their constitutional rights to protest.

The Pitak group has clearly won and shown that all the stupid mumblings about violence, kidnapping and assassination conspiracy theories was all made up by the same incompetent people who did actually execute those things back in 2009 - 2010

Well done with the first of many more proper protests to come! I bet the government are full of red faces now
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pjt
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Discussion 116 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.23116
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D110@robingrant - and did the Guardian reporter also say what she did with that information? That is did she immediately inform the police so that the bomb makers and their equipment could be apprehended before they could do any damage? Nobody wants violence, thus protesters (a predictable but thankfully small proportion it seems) caught with offensive weapons such as knives should be arrested and dealt with according to the law in exactly the same way as similar offenders in the 2009 and 2010 red shirt riots - no double standards
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boons
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Discussion 115 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.20115
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Thousands of armed troops, openly displaying weapons and gas canisters before the protest probably has a way of keeping all but the most extreme protesters at home. The numbers are hardly surprising given the parade of force which took place prior to the protests.
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flippogirl
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Discussion 114 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.19114
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D104, Whatajoke,

You're saying at the end "it's all relative to your point of view".
Exactly.
You're suggesting this is a bad government.
Sad truth is that this protest is not because of bad government or bad policies.
It's because its links to the former PM that this same group has ousted before, not for his policies and politics, but because of personal grudges.
If that is democracy, I will eat my hat.
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globalcat
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Discussion 113 : 24 Nov 2012 at 17.06113
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With ISA in place since 2 days and with a clear map of the closed roads since 2 days what the police should have done if protesters wanted to pass after cutting the barbed wires at the closed road which leads straight to Government House? Especially if some protesters used even a truck to pass through? Do u really think the police would have said:" please come here u can pass"?
I just watched on Blue Sky channel (the Democrat party TV) the video of the truck trying to pass through the policemen line. The firing of tear gas is the minimum the police should do in such a case, all over the world.
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pointoffew
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Discussion 112 : 24 Nov 2012 at 16.52112
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Note that several independent, international media estimate turnout at approx. 10,000 people only, just 1% of the target... Must be due to the weather...
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Ian
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Discussion 111 : 24 Nov 2012 at 16.49111
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Let me be the first to congratulate the protesters on making the headlines on the BBC website, well done for this brilliantly helpful exercise on behalf of tourism.
Incidentally the BBC quoted a figure of 10,000, could they be wrong by a factor of over 100%?
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robingrant
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Discussion 110 : 24 Nov 2012 at 16.48110
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A note to those who support this rally - a reporter from the UK's Guardian newspaper confirms having seen protestors preparing what she calls shrapnel bombs. Why, I wonder, would they be doing that when the rally was supposed to be peaceful? And why is Tul trying to lead an occupation of the Makkasan bridge? I think we all know the answer.
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