More Clashes With Military in Bangkok

I know this is supposed to be a poker blog but many people have been emailing me, on Twitter, and such telling me they appreciate the updates on what’s going on here in Thailand so I’ll continue to post updates from the front.

Yesterday was another day of violence and bloodshed. What’s scary is that you start to become used to it. Instead of being focused on what’s actually going on the first thing that goes through your head is “I wonder if they’ll shut down the sky train.” I’m not sure I like feeling that callous.

I went to my Thai classes yesterday. I had already heard that the army had set up a presence at the Asok BTS station from Twitter and various news outlets so I wasn’t really surprised when I say guys in camouflage carrying automatic weapons and wandering around when I exited at Asok.

I had about a half hour before class so I decided to grab some grub over at Sunrise Tacos. As I was exiting the Times Square building which connects to the BTS I thought I heard the army blasting something in English over the loudspeaker system they had set up under the BTS walkway.

Wait . . . that is English. I didn’t catch the whole thing but I did hear “Don’t be scared if you see soldiers. We are here to protect you from any harm. Thank you.”

Uhm, I’m not even comfortable hearing “We’re here to protect you” in my own country where I trust the cops/military so I was very uneasy hearing the Thais telling me not to worry.

I went to class and during the breaks I was checking the Twitter feed for #redshirts. It looks like the red shirt protesters walked into a military trap and were in chaos.

From the reports so far the red shirts declared that a group of about 2000 protesters were going to leave their stronghold at Ratchaprasong and head to the other side of Bangkok to:

a) Show support for 11 red shirts that were arrested for setting up a roadblock to keep police and military reinforcements from entering the city.

b) Stick it to da man and show them that they’ll do whatever the hell they want whenever they want regardless of whether or not they’ve been warned not to leave Ratchaprasong.

The reason I give two purposes for their demonstration is because in the morning when they headed out most of the talk was about Reason B. Once they got their asses kicked the talk turned to Reason A.

Personally, I think it was mostly spin. Hard to justify a complete disaster based solely on the fact that you were thumping your own chest. Better to make it a noble cause that you were going out to show support for fellow protesters.

The whole operation went to shit pretty fast. The military was ready and waiting for them with live ammo and rubber bullets. They shot out the tires of the first few vehicles in the procession and then called in the police to bring up the rear trapping the red shirts in between. They could keep moving forward into the military that was firing at them or retreat into the hands of the police.

Mostly they just scattered. One of the red shirts main leaders and the guy leading this particular pissing contest with the government bolted as soon as the shit hit the fan and left his men with no leadership.

Early reports said he had been captured but he later showed up at McDonald’s in Ratchaprasong telling people how his lucky Buddha amulets saved him.

It started to rain and both sides had just done their hair so things cooled down. The red shirts were allowed to retreat and go back to Ratchaprasong but the army had made its point, No Means No!

Final score: 18 injured and 1 dead (solider shot in a friendly fire incident).

When I exited the BTS in smack dead in the middle of Ratchaprasong people seemed agitated. This was the first time they had been on the losing end of a confrontation with the police and it was beginning to dawn on people that the army had guns and might just start shooting them. The shit just got serious.

Someone posted on Twitter that many of the people were asking what their leaders were going to do.

The red shirts immediately went into panic mode in Ratchaprasong. They closed off all checkpoints into and out of the area. Meanwhile the military set up their own checkpoints and started restricting access to Ratchaprasong, which freaked the red shirts out even more.

Soon there were messages on the UDD (red shirts) Facebook page saying that a crackdown by the police was immanent.

As the night wore on I could hear the speakers at the main protest area going back into their normal shtick. I have to say that is one of the most disconcerting things about being in this neighborhood. They go 24/7. About three-quarters of the time it’s very monotone or musical acts. But the other quarter of the speakers make you feel like you’re in the middle of Nazi rally and Adolf Hitler himself is furiously pounding the podium, veins in the neck bulging, spittle flying off his lips, as he works people into a frenzy.

I’m not comparing the UDD to Nazis or their speakers to Hitler other than the emotion and anger (and the fact that I can understand neither what Hitler is saying nor what the red shirts are ranting about). Check out this video I shot from early on during the demonstrations.

Now can you imagine hearing that every single day and night for the last month to six weeks?

When I shot this video I told my girlfriend, “If he says the word ‘farang’ (foreigner) I’m getting the f*ck out of here. I know how this story ends.”

And they have towers of speakers every block or two so you get a full dose of it. They set the volume on 11 and blare it all day and all night.

When I woke up things seemed more like they had returned to normal. Or should I say, as normal as things can be when you have thousands of people camped out all around your apartment building.

This morning I walked down to Villa Market to buy some food. All the other grocery stores near my apartment closed weeks ago.

The porta-poties lining my soi have begun to reek something awful. I try to walk on the other side of the street from them to avoid the smell.

I pass showering stations where the flaps are often pulled back and you can see men standing in their underwear washing themselves down with bowls full of water. The women who also have a showering station on my soi seem to have mastered using a clothespin to keep the flap to their showering station shut.

As I walk out onto Ratchadamri I’m saddened to see what it’s turned into. The streets are completely overtaken with tents, vendors or all sorts, and more porta-poties and showering stations.

The sidewalks cannot even be used anymore. Every square inch has been claimed by someone who is using it as a temporary home.

Of course, with the sidewalks unusable and two of three lanes (in each direction) overtaken with tents and vendors you now share even this little space with motorcycles, cars, and trucks ferrying people and/or supplies up and down the encampment.

Walking past the tents there are people in various stages of dress and undress laying around on mats or on the bare sidewalk. One guy, shirtless and shoeless, is lying on the steps of the BTS sleeping. Another guy wearing nothing but a towel and flip-flops walks past with a toothbrush in his mouth.

There’s garbage on the street and some people just throw the disposable bowls they give them when they distribute free meals onto the ground where they uneaten contents bake in the hot Bangkok temperatures.

The other day it was reported that six red shirt guards had come down with H1N1. Obviously the poor sanitation, lack of resources for cleaning, and close proximity to thousands of other people are perfect conditions for major disease outbreaks.

I don’t go out much anymore. I used to talk a walk every day. Just to clear my head or to get something to eat. Even in the miserable heat it felt good to get out into the fresh (and that’s a stretch in Bangkok) air.

People smiled. Even the security staff at The Four Seasons and The Grand Hyatt would often give me a big Sawadii Khrap (hello) for no apparent reason. You got to know the faces of all the local food vendors, taxi drivers, and various other people who lived and worked in the area.

But that’s all gone. Those people have been pushed out.

Hmmm . . . it sounds like I’m depressed. Not really. Just reflecting. Just trying to share what goes through my head sometimes.

Thanks for all of the offers people have made to let me ride this out either in the Philippines, China, or just even outside of central Bangkok. I’m not at that point yet though.

It really is very localized. When I do go out all I have to do is travel a few blocks and it’s like nothing is even going on. If you live or go outside of the red shirt controlled areas the only way you would know about any of this going on is the news.

Come to think of it, my lease is up at the end of next month. Let’s see if the red shirts are still here.