A series of political demonstrations and following unrest occurred in Thailand from 26 March to 14 April 2009 in Bangkok and Pattaya against the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva and the military crackdown that followed. Up to 100,000 people demonstrated in central Bangkok at the height of the protests. The crackdown is also known in Thailand as "Bloody Songkran" (Thai : สงกรานต์เลือด, romanized: Songkran lueat), referring to the Thai holiday of Songkran, which takes place on 13–15 April. [1] [2]
On 17 December 2008, Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, was named Prime Minister, after the Constitutional Court of Thailand banned then-Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from politics for five years. In March 2009, Thaksin Shinawatra claimed via video broadcast that Privy Council President Prem Tinsulanonda had masterminded the 2006 military coup, and that Prem and fellow Privy Councilor members Surayud Chulanont and Chanchai Likhitjittha conspired with the military to ensure that Abhisit became Premier. Although there was no proof of Thaksin's charge and Abhisit denied the accusations, thousands of Shinawatra supporters protested in Bangkok in early April, demanding that Abhisit resign as prime minister and that Prem, Surayud, and Chanchai resign from the Privy Council. [3] Thaksin then called for a "peoples revolution" to overcome the alleged aristocratic influences of the Abhisit government. The protests, led by the red-shirted National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), expanded to Pattaya, where the Fourth East Asia Summit was to be held. Violent clashes broke out between the UDD and blue-shirted government supporters affiliated with Newin Chidchob, leader of the Bhumjaithai Party. [4] The protesters broke into the hotel and forced the summit to be cancelled, causing Abhisit to declare a state of emergency in both Pattaya and Chonburi on 11 April.
The mass protest began with 100,000 demonstrators, supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, were at Government House and the nearby Royal Plaza by the evening. [5]
Veera Musikapong, Jatuporn Prompan, Nattawut Saikua and Jakrapop Penkair leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) have bulletin "8 April: The Day for Fall of Aristocratic Polity" for Abhisit Vejjajiva resign from the Premiership and that Prem Tinsulanonda, Surayud Chulanont and Chanchai Likhitjittha resign from the Privy Council within 24 hours, otherwise it would announce raising the level of its anti-government protest.
On 04.45 p.m. UDD protesters marched from the residence of Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda to the Victory Monument, the city's largest traffic and transport hub, to join about hundred taxi drivers who parked their vehicles blocked roads around the area. [6]
The protests, led by the red-shirted National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) expanded to Pattaya, the site of an ASEAN summit. The taxi-drivers with their cabs, leading supporters of the UDD, were rallied, heading to Pattaya before dawn. Major roads, the gates to Pattaya were blocked. Violent clashes occurred between the UDD and government supporters wearing dark blue T-shirts in the afternoon as the protesters were heading to the site of the summit. There were reports of blue-shirts throwing bombs at the UDD. [4] Since the police failed to halt the rallies, the masses eventually stormed the hotel, the summit building.
The protests caused the ASEAN summit to be cancelled. The security force escorted the foreign leaders, leaving from the hotel by the navy ships and helicopters. The prime minister Abhisit therefore declared a state of emergency in the areas of Pattaya and Chonburi. The protest eventually ended in the afternoon.
Protesters returned to Bangkok after Arisman Pongreungrong, the protest leader was detained by the police for causing the cancellation of the ASEAN summit. [7]
Suporn Attawong and protesters attempted on the Prime Minister's life and injured his secretary general, Niphon Promphan, and Promphan's driver. [8] [9]
Thai soldiers in full combat kit fired live rounds and training rounds from automatic weapons to clear protesters from the Din Daeng intersection near the Victory Monument in central Bangkok, injuring at least 70 people. [10] [11] The Army later claimed that live rounds were only fired into the air while training rounds were fired at the crowd. Human Rights Watch confirmed that there are some cases where the Army fired live ammunition directly at protesters. [12] Also on 13 April, Sean Boonpracong, the UDD's official international spokesman, gave a phone interview to Al-Jazeera English, admitting that some UDD protesters used hand guns during street protests though he claimed that the guns are used in defence of the military crackdown. [13] The UDD claimed one protester injured from gunshot wounds sustained during the military's attack. [14] [15] However, the Army later claimed that the wound was not caused by an M-16, the standard Army rifle. Also on Monday the government ordered the blocking of satellite news station D Station, an affiliate of the UDD which, at the time, was broadcasting the clashes. Several UDD community radio stations were shut down and searched upon suspicion of being supporters of the UDD. [16] Violent clashes at numerous locations in Bangkok continued while arrest warrants were issued for Thaksin and 13 protest leaders.
Surrounded by the military, many protesters eventually gave in on 14 April 2009, ending the violence. [17] As the troops encircled the major location of the demonstration, near the Government House, demonstrators agreed to end their activity. The government confirmed the peaceful measure towards the protesters, free transport were provided for taking the protesters back to their home in the provinces. The demonstration ended 'officially' and peacefully in around noon time.
According to government figures, over 120 people were injured in the unrest, most of them UDD demonstrators. [18] At least one UDD protester injured from gunshot wounds sustained during the military's attack in Din Daeng, although the Army claimed the wound was not caused by their standard firearm. The UDD claimed that at least 6 demonstrators were killed in the unrest and their bodies hauled away by the military, although the Army rejected the claim. [19] The dead bodies of 2 UDD protesters were found floating in the Chao Phraya River, their hands tied behind their backs and their bodies badly beaten, although police had yet to conclude whether their murders were politically motivated. [20] On 11 September 2009, The House-appointed committee in charge of investigating the unrest has completed its report saying no death inflicted by crowd control. [21]
Abhisit aide Satit Wongnontaey claimed that Red-shirted protesters shot a person dead and injured two others when residents of the Nang Lerng Market came out to criticise the protesters. [22] The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration estimated that it had incurred 10 million Baht (approximately US$300,000) in property damages, including 31 damaged and burned buses. [23] But, the Federation of Thai Tourism Industry estimated that the damage to the tourism industry could be as high as 200 billion Baht and resulting in 257,000 jobs lost. [24]
Thaksin Shinawatra, is a Thai businessman, politician and visiting professor. He served in the Thai Police from 1973 to 1987, and was the Prime Minister of Thailand from 2001 to 2006.
The Democrat Party is a Thai political party. The oldest party in Thailand, it was founded as a royalist party, and now upholds a conservative and pro-market position.
Prem Tinsulanonda was a Thai military officer, politician, and statesman who served as the Prime Minister of Thailand from 3 March 1980 to 4 August 1988, during which time he was credited with ending a communist insurgency and presiding over accelerating economic growth. As president of the Privy Council, he served as Regent of Thailand from the death of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on 13 October 2016, until the 1 December 2016 proclamation of Vajiralongkorn as King. At the age of 98, Prem was the longest-living Thai Prime Minister. He is also the oldest regent of any country, surpassing Bavarian Prince Regent Luitpold's record, when he became the regent for king Rama X. During the Thai political crisis of the mid-2000s, he was accused by deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his supporters of masterminding the 2006 coup, as well as in the appointment of the post-coup legislature and interim government of Surayud Chulanont. The military junta that ousted Thaksin denied that Prem had any important political role.Prem, as the President of the Privy Council, promoted King Bhumibol's ideologies and royal projects, though he sometimes represented himself as being the voice of the king. He urged Thai society to follow the king's advice and himself founded several welfare projects related to education, drug suppression, poverty, and national unity. A southerner, Prem had also dealt personally with trying to resolve the South Thailand insurgency.
Abhisit Vejjajiva is a British-Thai politician who was the prime minister of Thailand from 2008 to 2011. He was the leader of the Democrat Party from 2005 until he resigned following the party's weak performance in the 2019 election. As leader of the second largest party in the House of Representatives, he was also leader of the opposition – a position he held from 2005 to 2008 and again after his premiership until his party's en masse resignation from the House on 8 December 2013.
In 2005 and 2006, a series of events occurred in Thailand as a result of public anger with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra that was supported by Sondhi Limthongkul and his coalitions. It led a military coup that concluded in the overthrow of the Thai Rak Thai government in September 2006, the flight of Thaksin after the court verdict, and the establishment of the junta government led by Surayud Chulanont, a favourite of privy councillor and senior statesman Prem Tinsulanonda.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) is a Thai reactionary ultraroyalist political movement and pressure group. It was originally a coalition of protesters against Thaksin Shinawatra, the former Prime Minister of Thailand.
Muangthai Raisabdah is a Thai political talk show hosted by Sondhi Limthongkul and Sarocha Pornudomsak. The show is Sondhi's personal mouthpiece, and up to 2004 it praised Premier Thaksin Shinawatra. Later, when relations between the two soured, it became one of the Premier's most vocal critics. In September 2005, the show was cancelled by its broadcaster, MCOT, after Sondhi allegedly made on-air comments disrespectful to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Sondhi started independently broadcasting his show via satellite and internet, turning tapings into rallies against the government. In February 2006, Sondhi co-founded the People's Alliance for Democracy and the show was incorporated into the PAD's anti-Thaksin rallies.
The 2006 Thai coup d'état took place on 19 September 2006, when the Royal Thai Army staged a coup d'état against the elected caretaker government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. The coup d'état, which was Thailand's first non-constitutional change of government in fifteen years since the 1991 Thai coup d'état, followed a year-long political crisis involving Thaksin, his allies, and political opponents and occurred less than a month before nationwide House elections were scheduled to be held. It has been widely reported in Thailand and elsewhere that General Prem Tinsulanonda, key person in military-monarchy nexus, Chairman of the Privy Council, was the mastermind of the coup. The military cancelled the scheduled 15 October elections, abrogated the 1997 constitution, dissolved parliament and constitutional court, banned protests and all political activities, suppressed and censored the media, declared martial law nationwide, and arrested cabinet members.
Surayud Chulanont is a Thai politician. He was the Prime Minister of Thailand and head of Thailand's interim government between 2006 and 2008. He is a former supreme commander of the Royal Thai Army and is currently Privy Councilor to King Vajiralongkorn.
People's Television (PTV) was a Thai satellite television station. It was established by former executives of the Thai Rak Thai party after the 2006 Thailand military coup overthrew the Thai Rak Thai-led government. It launched despite warnings from the Council for National Security, the military junta that seized power. PTV executives insisted that if ASTV could operate, then so could PTV.
The United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), whose supporters are commonly called Red Shirts, is a political pressure group opposed to the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), the 2006 Thai coup d'état, and supporters of the coup. Notable UDD leaders include Jatuporn Prompan, Nattawut Saikua, Veera Musikapong, Jaran Ditapichai, and Weng Tojirakarn. The UDD allies itself with the Pheu Thai Party, which was deposed by the 2014 military coup. Before the July 2011 national elections, the UDD claimed that Abhisit Vejjajiva's government took power illegitimately, backed by the Thai Army and the judiciary. The UDD called for the Thai Parliament to be dissolved so that a general election could be held. UDD accused the country's extra-democratic elite—the military, judiciary, certain members of the privy council, and other unelected officials—of undermining democracy by interfering in politics. The UDD is composed of mostly rural citizens from northeast (Isan) and north Thailand, of urban lower classes from Bangkok, and of intellectuals. Although the movement seems to receive support from former prime minister-in-exile Thaksin Shinawatra, not all UDD members support the deposed prime minister.
Beginning in 2008, there was worsening conflict between the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the People's Power Party (PPP) governments of Prime Ministers Samak Sundaravej and Somchai Wongsawat. It was a continuation of the 2005–2006 political crisis, when PAD protested against the Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. PAD followers usually dressed in yellow, yellow being the royal color of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, and were called "yellow shirts". National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) followers, known as supporters of the deposed prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, dressed in red and were widely called "red shirts".
Nattawut Saikua is a Thai politician. He is the secretary-general and spokesman of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, and a Member of Parliament for the Pheu Thai Party list. In 2008, he was spokesman for the Somchai Wongsawat government. From January 2012 to May 2014, he served as Deputy Minister in Yingluck Shinawatra's cabinet.
The 2010 Thai political protests were a series of political protests that were organised by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) in Bangkok, Thailand from 12 March–19 May 2010 against the Democrat Party-led government. The UDD called for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold elections earlier than the end of term elections scheduled in 2012. The UDD demanded that the government stand down, but negotiations to set an election date failed. The protests escalated into prolonged violent confrontations between the protesters and the military, and attempts to negotiate a ceasefire failed. More than 80 civilians and six soldiers were killed, and more than 2,100 injured by the time the military violently put down the protest on 19 May.
Abhisit Vejjajiva was formally endorsed by King Bhumibol Adulyadej as Prime Minister of Thailand on 17 December 2008. Abhisit ascended to power amid a global economic crisis.
Jakrapob Penkair is a Thai media personality, diplomat and politician who served as a Member of Parliament for Bangkok, the Government Spokesperson of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from 2003 to 2005, and later as a Cabinet Minister to the Office of the Prime Minister from 2007 to 2008 under the premiership of Samak Sundaravej.
Apiwan Wiriyachai was a Thai politician and a member of the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship.
The history of Thailand since 2001 has been dominated by the politics surrounding the rise and fall from power of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and subsequent conflicts, first between his supporters and opponents, then over the rising military influence in politics. Thaksin and his Thai Rak Thai Party came to power in 2001 and became very popular among the electorate, especially rural voters. Opponents, however, criticized his authoritarian style and accused him of corruption. Thaksin was deposed in a coup d'état in 2006, and Thailand became embroiled in continuing rounds of political crisis involving elections won by Thaksin's supporters, massive anti-government protests by multiple factions, removals of prime ministers and disbanding of political parties by the judiciary, and two military coups.
Jatuporn Prompan is a Thai politician and activist. He is one of the core leaders of the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD), also known as the "Red Shirts", and a former Member of Parliament of the Pheu Thai Party. In July 2017, he was given a one-year prison sentence for defamation.
Sam Liam Din Daeng or Din Daeng Junction is a road junction in the area of Thanon Phaya Thai Subdistrict, Ratchathewi District in downtown Bangkok. It is a three-way junction of Ratchawithi Road, Ratchaprarop Road and Din Daeng Road, being considered the beginning of the former two. The name of the junction refers to its triangular shape. On top of the junction is an overpass linking Ratchawithi Road and the nearby Victory Monument zone.
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