[Tlc] T-state of emergency

[justinm at ucr.edu]

FYI from Dr. Bonnie Brereton.
Thanks,
justin

STATE OF EMERGENCY     
(BangkokPost.com)

The government has declared a state of emergency around the two occupied Bangkok airports and police have been ordered to clear out PAD protesters so flights can resume.
LATE NEWS: Authorities have officially declared Suvarnabhumi airport closed until Saturday at 6pm at the earliest.

Agriculture Minister Somsak Prisananantakul told reporters the special Cabinet meeting held in Chiang Mai declared emergency laws will apply in and around both the closed Suvarnabhumi and Don Mueang airports.

Meanwhile, growing numbers of tourists, business executives and government officials are stranded by the severed transportation links between Thailand and the rest of the world. Foreign Minister Sompong Amornwiwat was reported stranded in Germany where he was on a private visit on Thursday.

Some flights have continued through provincial airports but the main bulk of the 75 flights per hour through Suvarnabhumi have been cancelled.

The emergency decree orders the police to restore order and gives the military the right to help to "restore order, allow the suspension of civil liberties, ban public gatherings of more than five people and bar the media from reporting news that causes panic."

The primary operation is to be conducted by Bangkok metropolitan police under supervision of Interior Minister Pol Gen Kowit Wattana, the premier said.

Using the emergency decree gives the military the authorisation to clear out and reopen both airports, which were attacked, occupied and closed by the People's Alliance for Democracy on Tuesday night and Wednesday respectively. The Navy and Air Force may be used if the army continues to disobey orders.

    Caution

    It should be remembered we have been here before, and a state of emergency has no guarantee of results.

    Ex-premier Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency last Sept 2 after early morning clashes between pro-government protesters and PAD backers in Bangkok. Police and the army refused to act, and Mr Somchai eventually lifted the state of emergency when he took office.

"This time it will be different because the police will be the ones responsible," said government spokesman Nattawuth Saikuea.

Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat presided over Thursday's special cabinet meeting in his home town, Chiang Mai. PAD protesters have also seized and occupied both Government House and a backup government headquarters at Don Mueang in Bangkok.

If there is bloodshed when the police try to clear out the airports, the military might have to step in. That could mean a de facto coup, even though the Royal Thai Army does not want to take power.

"The government is in a corner," said Panitan Wattanayagorn, a political scientist at Chulalongkorn University. "If the police cannot do a clean job (of clearin the airports), I’m quite certain they will step in."

Army chief Gen Anupong Paojinda has refused to use his forces against protesters, but also has only "suggested" the government step down. Both Mr Somchai and PAD leaders have effectively ignored the increasinly ineffective army commander.

If the army is forced to take over, Gen Anupong will start from a position of weakness, with respect from neither of the two sides in the conflict and seen as weak and vacillating by the majority who have favoured neither the government nor the PAD.

The emergency decree was reportedly backed in advance by some 200 members of the coalition government, who urged the embattled premier to "exercise stringent legal measures" against the protesters at the airports and at Government House.

Ekapot Parnyaem, a Chart Thai MP representing Pathum Thani province, urged that the government "carry out the order within 24 hours".

He also called on MPs to "mobilise not less than 20,000 people to oppose a power seizure," a sign that there will be public disturbances in case of a military coup.

Ironically, Gen Anupong agreed. He said tht a military coup would not end political turmoil, but might increase it.

Prime Minister Somchai on Thursday denied rumours that some military commanders would be stripped of their posts and that a coup is in the making.

Military personnel should remain in their barracks and officers should not move or put their forces on alert, said government spokesman Natthawut Saikua, who said the public should not be worried or confused by coup rumours. (with reports by TNA and news agencies)

______________
Dr. Justin McDaniel
Dept. of Religious Studies
3046 INTN
University of California, Riverside
Riverside, CA 92521
951-827-4530
justinm at ucr.edu