Thursday 27 November 2008

An update about the situation in Bangkok.

An update about the situation in Bangkok.

It's not looking very good and a lot of whispers go around, announcing yet another coup (if this would happen, it would be the 19th coup since 1932) and PAD is bracing itself for crackdown.

A state of emergency has been declared around two areas in Bangkok, the two airports Don Muang and Suvarnabhumi.
PM: Air Force and Navy to help clear airports and Samut Prakaran authorities on alert over airport's seizure, with 30 emergency medical teams on alert.
If this doesn't look serious I don't know what does, although it must be remarked that the current Government declared a State of Emergency once already over the occupation of the Government House, but the army didn't interfere. It may be different this time around.

In the meantime PAD vows to fight off police crackdowns. Unfortunately everything points to a violent confrontation in the next 24 to 48 hours.

Kind of caught in the middle are my parents who made it yesterday into Bangkok because they were on a Thai Airways flight (most other flights were cancelled or re-called in mid air) but got re-directed to Chiang Mai, where they had to board the plane after a 5 or 6 hour wait before they were brought back to their final destination Bangkok, although at Don Muang, the old airport. It wasn't until 11 pm that they reached a hotel near Don Muang.

Today, after work, I just started another IDC I checked for flights from Pattaya to Samui but these were all booked until Wednesday 3rd December. Plan B was taken into consideration and I rented a mini van with driver for them and now they will be picked from their hotel hotel at 5 am, hopefully before too much political activity will go down (remember, their hotel is in the state of emergency zone!) and they can be safely on their way to Samui.
I'll be relieved to be able to welcome at Samui pier tomorrow!

Camille

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Camille

I hoop dat het allemaal goed gaat om je ouders op Samui te krijgen.

Camille Lemmens said...

Dat hoop ik ook!

Anonymous said...

Hope your parents arrive safely, I'm sure they will!

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Barry,

Thnaks for the concern, they're en route since 5 am and almost outside Bangkok.

Anonymous said...

Surely the PAD have now backed themselves into a very tight corner or terminal which ever terminology you prefer. This is without doubt the last stand from the PAD and one that will hit Thailand's pocket very hard. I hope there will be a peaceful settlement but a coup and later election will only turn full circle the reinstatement of the PPP, the people's choice to govern Thailand. Let the choice of the Thai people have a chance to implement the policies they were elected upon.

Camille Lemmens said...

Hi Hoo Don,

It seems apparent that the PAD has some very powerful back up, otherwise it would not be possible to do whatever they're doing.

They did put themselves in a tight corner indeed and with it pretty much all of Thailand.