Opinion
Barry Artiste,
I will update as the news comes in. Pro and anti government protestors are clashing with government forces with the Prime Minister declaring a state of emergency.
http://www.bangkokpost.com/topstories/topstories.php?id=130270
Countries issue travel advisory Overseas office of the Tourism Authority of Thailand
(TAT) revealed that Britain, Australia, Canada, South Korea and Japan have issued a travel advisory telling their citizens to be careful while traveling to Thailand.
Porntip Hirunket, secretary-general of the Tourism Council of Thailand, said the council has issued a statement calling for the government and the PAD to exercise restraint as the situation has severely affected tourism industry.
Thai PM Samak Sundaravej on Bangkok’s state of emergency
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7593128.stm
Clashes on the streets of Bangkok
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7593110.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7592942.stm
Bangkok under state of emergency
Clashes on the streets of Bangkok Thailand’s Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has declared a state of emergency in the capital Bangkok, after clashes left at least one person dead.
Dozens more were hurt in the worst violence seen in Bangkok for 16 years. Mr Samak said he had “no choice” but to impose the measure in order to end the week-old revolt by supporters of the People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD).
But the army commander has promised that his men will not use force to disperse the protesters.
Separately, in a fresh blow to the government, the Thai election commission recommended that Mr Samak’s People Power Party be disbanded over claims of vote-buying in elections last December.
The recommendation will not lead to immediate action against the party, as it must now be considered by the public prosecutor’s office, but correspondents say it piles further pressure on Mr Samak’s government.
If the prosecutor submits the case to the Constitutional Court and the ruling is upheld, Mr Samak and other top party leaders would be banned from politics for five years. PAD supporters say the government is a front for Thaksin Shinawatra – the former prime minister, now in exile, whom the PAD was instrumental in removing in a coup in 2006.
The PAD has a passionate following in various parts of the country, especially Bangkok, and some powerful backers among the elite.
But it has little support in most of rural Thailand, which voted strongly for Prime Minister Samak, and Mr Thaksin before him.
KEY EVENTS
Sept 2006: Bloodless coup by military sees PM Thaksin Shinawatra removed from office April 2007: New military-drafted constitution approved
Dec 2007: General election won by People Power Party (PPP), seen as reincarnation of Thaksin’s now banned Thai Rak Thai party Jan 2008: Samak Sundaravej chosen as PM
Feb 2008: Thaksin returns from exile May 2008: PAD protests against Samak begin
July 2008: Thaksin goes on trial for corruption; his wife is found guilty of fraud. By mid-August the family has fled to the UK
August 2008: PAD protests escalate
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=avmnhyUdrNuc&refer=asia
Thai Baht, Stocks Slump; Samak Imposes Emergency Rule (Update2)
By Shanthy Nambiar and Anuchit Nguyen Sept. 2
(Bloomberg) — Thailand’s baht fell to the lowest level in more than a year and stocks dropped to a 19-month low after Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency.
Government bonds fell, reversing an earlier advance. The currency extended last month’s 2.1 percent decline after clashes in Bangkok between thousands of pro- and anti-government demonstrators left one dead and 43 injured.
The People’s Alliance for Democracy, a group seeking Samak’s resignation, has occupied Government House, where the prime minister’s office is located, since Aug. 26.
Tags: Politics | Government | Thailand | Emergency | opinion | World | Riots | Burma | Bangkok. Riots