Red-Shirted Thai Protesters Seize Control of TV Station

Posted on Apr 9, 2010

nytimes.com

We now return to our regularly scheduled anti-government programming: Thai demonstrators regained control of an opposition TV station on Friday.

A crowd of demonstrators sporting red shirts clambered over barbed wire and battled with police and military troops before taking over an anti-government TV station in Bangkok on Friday, signaling victory by returning the People’s Television Station to broadcast mode after the Thai government had pulled its proverbial plug on Wednesday.  —KA

The New York Times:

The scenes at the station seemed to suggest the prevailing winds of the moment, as soldiers with their helmets and riot shields departed single file between rows of cheering protesters, exchanging smiles and slaps on the back. One soldier, with a red ribbon tied around his wrist, raised a fist.

Several casualties were reported on both sides, but witnesses said the security forces did not appear to have made a determined stand in the face of a vigorous charge by mostly unarmed protesters.

One witness said some soldiers had fled their own tear gas as it blew back into their faces.

The protesters, who are mostly supporters of the fugitive former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, are demanding that the government step aside and call a new election. Mr. Abhisit took office in a parliamentary vote in December 2008, when a previous pro-Thaksin government was dissolved by a court for electoral fraud.

Read more

 

More Below the Ad

New and Improved Comments

We are launching a major overhaul of our comments section.

In addition to more robust spam filtering and moderation, new features include the ability to rate other comments, sort how they are displayed and respond directly via e-mail or in a thread.

Unfortunately, commenters will lose their existing Truthdig identities. It's a pain, we know, but on the plus side you will now be able to log in with a plethora of options, including Google, Twitter, Facebook and Disqus accounts.

Before launching this system we spent months in discussion with our top commenters. We listened to the feedback and we hope you like what we've come up with.

Please direct any problems or concerns to us via our contact page.