Emergency in Bangkok

Thailand’s embattled Government, humiliated by demonstrators who shut down the 16-nation ASEAN Summit on April 12, 2009, declared a state of emergency in Bangkok, the capital of the country and ordered armoured vehicles into the streets to stem a tide of protest across the country.

Part of Thai Political History
The military presence was not a sign of an imminent coup — a common feature of Thai political history.The protesters were outfitted in red, the colour denoting their allegiance to Thaksin Shinawatra, deposed in a palace-backed military coup in 2006 and thereafter in exile but still massively popular with the rural poor and the country’s northern region. Ranged, feebly, against them were government supporters in blue shirts. That is a little different from the yellow shirts who brought Thailand to a standstill last year. The yellow shirts are believed to be a Bangkok coalition, its middle classes, businesspersons and royalists who felt crowded out of Thaksin’s constituency. That agitation led to Thaksin’s proxy prime minister being ousted and the current incumbent, Abhisit Vejjajiva, being installed.

Rule Under Emergency
The Government reasoned that protesters had committed violence in the areas so the government had to declare the state of emergency to restore normality in the areas. The areas include some districts in Nonthaburi and Samut Prakan.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban will be chief enforcer of the state of emergency measures. Police and soldiers as well as civil servants will assist Suthep in the operations to restore normality.

Bands of anti-government protesters roamed areas of Bangkok as the emergency decree was announced, with some smashing a car, which they believed was carrying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, and others beating up motorists who hurled insults at them.

The emergency decree bans gatherings of more than five people, forbids news reports considered threatening to public order and allows the Government to call up military troops to quell unrest. But there were initial signs that the Government might not be able to contain the protesters.

The demonstrators swarm over two of three armoured personnel carriers outside a shopping mall in downtown Bangkok, while the police stood by as a furious crowd beat a car in which they thought Abhisit was riding with poles and rocks.

Strong Military Intervention
It is said that there was a time, in the seventies and eighties, when Thailand would take abrupt changes in government in its stride. During those decades of strong military interventionism, coups took place and, with few exceptions, on the morning after life went on. And when regime change did get tricky, there was always the palace; the king was held in high regard, and a gesture by him could settle the power struggle. But as Thailand began to be counted among the fast-growing east Asian economies, there was a simultaneous shift among people towards regarding democracy as crucial to their country’s success story.

Demonstrators from the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship say Abhisit’s four-month-old government took power illegitimately and want new elections. They also accuse the country’s elite, the military, judiciary and other unelected officials, of undermining democracy by interfering in politics.

Soldiers and police would safeguard key points in the city and the military presence was not a sign of an imminent coup, a common feature of Thai political history. “The Government decided to impose the state of emergency because the Government wants to return the country to normalcy. The Government will try every way to prevent further damage.