When the Phuket Airport 'invasion' commenced, I was working as a volunteer tourist police officer within the airport boundary, and so I was able to get an 'on-the-spot' view of what was going on, including taking photos as these events unfolded.

My strongest recollection is leading about 20 elderly foreign tourists along the beach, in an attempt to help them to reach their taxis, (since the main airport entrances were blocked by the demonstrators).

These foreign tourists, several who were suffering from the effects of heat and the long walk towards NaiYang beach, were stopped by PAD demonstrators at the airport boundary.

Despite my personal pleas (in Thai and in police uniform), that these innocent, elderly tourists should be allowed to pass, they were not allowed to proceed. It was only when one elderly German tourist started to suffer heart pains that they finally relented.

That's what I remember of the PAD demonstrators. It does not encourage me to forget those events and I hope that legal action is brought against these people who tarnished the image of Phuket

Simon Luttrell

Posted by Simon Luttrell on July 12, 2010 09:03

Indeed.

This type of lawlessness has become endemic: airport blockades by political parties, road blockades by tuk-tuks claiming some self-imagined right to market share, road blockades by private groups aggrieved over police inaction on some pet peeve, blockades over land use, etc.

People have the right to protest to publicize their grievance. Police have the duty - duty! - to disperse protesters when their presence interferes with other legal activities.

The troubles in Bangkok escalated all out of proportion primarily because this core principle was given short-shrift from the beginning.

Posted by D on July 12, 2010 11:02

The Yellow shirts were there to support getting rid of Thaksin. Now Thaksin is out (hopefully).The Red shirts support Thaksin, they are wrong. End of story!

Posted by Grinning on July 12, 2010 14:06

The police try to do their job but the military and their bosses control what happens

Posted by David Brown on July 13, 2010 17:12

@David Brown: You got this one completely backwards. The problems in Bangkok spun out of control because the police there, sympathetic to the Reds, allowed them to set up permanent protest structures, which eventually became fully-armed fortifications. Had modest control been employed at the start - by the police who were the empowered party on the ground - then the military would not have had to employ more significant force later.

Posted by D on July 13, 2010 20:44

I wasn't missing the point, I was making one. Thaksin's government was a dictatorship supported by paid off participants. The yellow shirts represent an attempt at some sort of democracy.True democracy is very hard to find anywhere.

Posted by Grinning on July 14, 2010 14:26