Sympathy for the Devil?

After being ejected en masse from their encampments today, from which they have created havoc and caused financial woes for all Thais and foreigners alike for two months, this is how the Reds take out their frustrations whilst fleeing the capital..

From pictures like these, may all onlookers across the world now see the true character behind the 'red shirts'...

Any sympathy I held for them has gone up in smoke...

Comments

[Steve]

I was already lacking any sympathy for a group that would take a major capital city hostage and inflict harm on innocents...and now this further insult. How long will it take Thailand to recover from this physically, emotionally and in the eyes of the world?

[Mike]

Ben great pics-did you take them?
Hopefully some people might actually get prosecuted for the arson and looting-my betting is that they won't all be red shirts since these sort of actions tend to bring out the worst elements of any community.

[Ben Shingleton]

Hi Thanks for comments - Not my pics - from Twitter and Facebook!

Overall I see the whole episode as an attack on the city and the way of life of those that live there. Obviously its never totally black and white, and there have been awful and avoidable tragedies.... the gov should have nipped this thing right at the very beginning....

[Martyn]

Ben if it burns for a bit longer then it might start to resemble some of the living conditions some Isaan village folk have to endure.

The burning of the buildings was done by hard core red shirts but most of the protesters were peace keeping country folk after a better life.

[Ben Shingleton]

Appreciate that Martyn, if its a better life they're after there are surely hundreds of other ways to acheive it...?

[Lloyd]

I have to agree with Martyn, after being repressed, lied to and kept in a circle of poverty for the best part of the last century the silent majority has shown that they are no longer prepared to be treated with contempt.

Buildings can be rebuilt, lives cannot, the Goverment had plenty of oppertunities to end this without the force they ultimately used.

[Ben Shingleton]

Hello Lloyd, yes, I appreciate the sentiment , but I'm guessing neither of you have businesses in Bangkok, which have pretty much been in a strangle hold, or have had to live or work in the city over the last 2 months.... Your opinions may well be different if the actions of the reds meant you were losing your livlihoods, which has happened to thousands of Bangkok business owners and employees (businesses that employ people / pay large amounts of tax etc) The vast majority of these people are Thai, most of whom have worked their way up from scratch, and without any assistance from a thai government.

[Talen]

A very sad week indeed. While I feel for the rural poor and think they deserve much better I think the way they went about the protest in the past few weeks was deplorable and it cost lives.

Businesses have been destroyed and many Thai's will be jobless due to this problem...two wrongs never make a right.

This isn't over yet by a long shot.

[Ben Shingleton]

Hi Talen you're right of course they deserve better. they deserve a better everything! (education / health care / housing / security / safety on the roads / police force etc etc etc the list is long as we all know... )

Therefore the reds need to go to the elections and put this government to the sword once and for all and in the proper way, and not get dragged down by those with their own personal agendas..

My own beliefs are that Abhisit is a decent man, a half decent leader, and a good fit for all Thai's in that he has a lot of global experience, and I think he can do a lot of good for Thailand............ (if he gets half a chance)

[Lloyd]

Ben, I do not own nor deal with businesses in Bangkok,nor live in Bangkok. However I have no sympathy for the companies effected as they should have had appropriate insurance to cover such events. I also do not have much sympathy for the Bangkokonians who have cried fowl because their airconditioned shopping centres were closed whilst the rest of Thailand hardly noticed. Until the Government acted foolishly by imposing rediculous security measures the vast majority of the country, and the worold, watched with patience as the protests that for want of a better word were "harmless".

The damage done to Thailand by the pro Government "yellow" shirted protesters, or PAD of whom that attended the protests there are several standing politicians in the current administration, effected all of Thailand and caused immense financial loss that makes the current losses seem almost insignificant. What ligitimate Government does not see the seizure of international airports which effectively held hostage to more than 200,000 foreign citizens as an act of terrorism, yet at the same time claims the people who protested causing th eclosure of a handful of streets, shopping malls and hotels are labelled terrorists.

As for Abhisit, given his current friendship with the army and how he allowed the army to repress and slaughter their own he would be better suited to a Government role in Myanmar or Nth Korea!

[Ben Shingleton]

Goes to show Lloyd, its a divisive topic.

[Ben Shingleton]

http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/178766/the-truth-today-points-to-the-big-lie-of-thaksin?awesm=fbshare.me_AN6ZE

[Ben Shingleton]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/world/asia/26iht-letter.html