One scene has ended but the opera goes on

Published: 26 Nov 2012 at 00.00
Newspaper section: News

Unexpectedly, the anti-government rally organised by the Pitak Siam group at the Royal Plaza on Saturday was over after almost precisely eight hours from the official start at 9.01am.

Group leader, Gen Boonlert Kaewprasit, aka Seh Ai, announced the end of the rally at 5.15pm for supposedly safety reasons.

As I said in my commentary last Monday, the rally would be a failure from the outset for at least two reasons.

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pjt
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Discussion 3 : 26 Nov 2012 at 07.583
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Khun Veera - quite right - but do you think the lesson has been learned yet? I suspect we will need to have a few more Gen Boonlert look a likes who will also suffer similar failure before finally a proper public protest movement emerges which focuses clearly on the areas where the government is falling down and failing to govern for the future for all Thais and demands that the behaviour of the government changes. In the meantime as you note we have seen how the government propoganda machine is likely to react to such a legitimate use of democractic rights
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whatajoke
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Discussion 2 : 26 Nov 2012 at 07.512
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This succinctly summarises the event, the last two paragraphs are particularly pertinent. The govt might be smarting from its successive put down but this was just the censure debate, it's a stark reminder of what's to come when the Amnesty Bill is resurrected and the constitutional changes pushed forward. And next time they will be better organised. Lucky for the tourism industry this round wasn't protracted or irresponsible.
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robingrant
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Discussion 1 : 26 Nov 2012 at 06.591
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Veera dismisses General Boonlert's call for a military coup to topple the government, and the installation of what would amount to a dictatorship, as a "slip of the tongue" He must be joking! As for his claim that the government's warnings of violence were just "hot air" well, he should read today's Bangkok Post editorial, which provides a balanced and realistic assessment of this failed rally.
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One scene has ended but the opera goes on | Bangkok Post: opinion