Thai military prepares for crackdown

[Hannah Bell]

The Thai military is poised to move against thousands of anti-government protesters encamped in Bangkok’s Ratchaprasong commercial district in what is likely to be a bloody encounter. On the government’s orders, food, water, electricity and mobile phone communications have been cut off to the protest site. The army has declared two areas of the capital to be “live fire zones”.

Already at least 31 people have been killed and 230 injured in the past four days of street fighting as the army has tightened its grip...The shooting of Khattiya inflamed tensions after the collapse of a compromise deal between the government and the opposition United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) the previous day. (Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva) withdrew his offer to hold early national elections in November after UDD leaders made additional demands and the protests continued...

The UDD, which supports former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, draws much of its support from the impoverished, rural north and northeast of the country. Thaksin, a billionaire telecom tycoon, came to power in 2001 promising to defend Thai businesses and help the poor in the wake of the 1997-98 Asian financial crisis. As part of his economic stimulus measures, he provided a series of limited handouts — financial grants to villages,cheap loans and a low-cost health scheme....

The traditional Thai elites —the military, the monarchy and the state bureaucracy— initially backed Thaksin but turned on him when he continued the previous open-market policies and concentrated power in his hands, undermining established patronage networks. The army, with the backing of the monarchy, ousted Thaksin in 2006, but when fresh elections were held in late 2007, the pro-Thaksin People Power Party (PPP) won. After months of protests by the anti-Thaksin Peoples Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and two court rulings removing PPP prime ministers, Abhisit was installed with the help of the military in December 2008...


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/may2010/thai-m17.shtml