Thaicom is around 50 kilometres out of Bangkok in the Lat Lum Kaeo district of Pathum Thani and it's baking hot on the back of the motorcycle with little relief from the beating sun and as we end the journey bouncing down small country lanes between fields of crops, and the appearance of a large cluster of huge satellite dishes is a very welcome sight indeed. Thaicom is situated in a rectangular compound with a small lake at the front and a main entrance to one edge. That face gives way to a long side raised about 5 foot above a recently-harvested field, while further down there is a cluster of army vehicles lurking behind a ring of barbed wire. There are several rolls of barbed wire at the main gate and a roll down the side, but its only a minor fortification and the two or thre hundred army personnel are heavily outnumbered by the protestors who continue to roll up, lining the narrow country lanes and spilling out into the fields around the compound, maybe more than ten thousand trekking up from the city in all manner of vehicles.
The tension was palpable as two of the Reds' command trucks lined up at the gates with the core leaders continuing to talk up the pressure from the PA systems. Today the atmosphere had changed, the Reds were ready for action and they were happy to show me big bolt cutters that they had ready to cut their way through the barbed wire. There were light moments, a protestor shouting at the army provoked laughter as he a model plane balanced on his head, saying it was ready to fly Thaksin home. With the lazy green of the fields now replaced with a sea of red passion, the tension continued to pile on and by mid afternoon it was ready to blow. Sure enough it did, as the rhetoric hit fever pitch, suddenly a wave of hard clods of dry earth, water bottles, sticks and other handy projectiles came flying through the air at the army who raised their shields to combat the raining missiles. The protestors made short work of the barbed wire at the main gate, and, despite the momentary stream of a water cannon, they were through, surging into the outer section of the compound. Hugely outnumbered the army fell back fast, retreating under a curtain of falling objects into the main compound in front of the building. A short, sharp encounter took place across the tarmac approach to the station, tear gas was thrown by both sides along with a handful of Molotov cocktails from the Reds, but it wasn't fierce combat with the more unruly protestors being quickly reigned in by their own side. A captured water truck was commandeered by the Reds and driven towards the army ranks with a brick on the accelerator, however it harmlessly ambled to a halt in the ornamental bushes and trees at the endge of the pathway to the main entrance, spewing water.
Then as suddenly as it had all started, with the army now retreated and pinned back at the side of the main building, the mêlée abruptly stopped, and to diffuse the situation the soldiers sat down. The UDD leaders' negotiated with the Thaicom staff and an agreement to restore the signal to their TV station was reached. The Reds then showed off a large number of weapons: rifles, bullets, cartridges and tear gas canisters, that they had captured from the army, and with everyone calming down, soon all sides were heading out of Thaicom onto the totally gridlocked country lane, Reds and soldiers filing out of the complex side-by-side, a very Thai like scene bearing in mind the two sides had been fighting with each other barely an hour before. Darkness was by now rolling in as the Reds clambered aboard their vehicles and headed back into the city.
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Red-shirts steal weapons at ThaiCom compoundby Maestro25513,222 views
gogo red shrt haaaaa...
Nu008s 1 year ago