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Images posted by Bangkok's Governor show a camera being killed

UPDATE In Thailand, Bangkok's Cameras Are Being Killed. Will Protesters Be Next?

Tuesday, November 26, 2013
UPDATE

POLICE REMOVED the black plastic from the camera today following the Bangkok Governor's complaint. Protesters surrounded four more ministries: Interior, Agriculture, Transport and Tourism and Sport. Civil servants were forced to vacate the buildings with protesters threatening to cut power and water.

Original News Analysis

PHUKET: Footage of police shrouding a protest security camera in black plastic soon after midnight today has alarmed the Governor Of Bangkok, Sukhumbhand Paribatra.

''Our concern is the safety of the people here,'' he posted on Facebook. ''The safety of the people is why we put more cameras up.''

The final images show officers in t-shirts on a crane obscuring the camera's lens, raising concern about what could happen next to protesters on the ground below at Bangkok's Wat Benchamabopit.

Savagely violent endings to prolonged protests are nothing new on the streets of Thailand's sometimes troubled capital.

Blame has yet to be apportioned for the deaths of 90 people in a street uprising that eventually brought down a previous government in Bangkok in 2010.

In the aftermath of those deadly shootings, security cameras were erected all over Thailand's capital to accurately record future crimes in the streets.

Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra was perturbed today by a change in approach after police were filmed covering a camera.

''It was the police who asked us to to put up more cameras for the security of Bangkok,'' he posted on Facebook.

With the shrouds going on, the extension by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra of a special internal security law across much of Bangkok last night could be what triggered the change in thinking.

In a special TV broadcast, the embattled PM - sister of revered and reviled former PM Thaksin Shinawatra - said her government has no choice but to use the ISA after the anti-government protesters stepped up disruption by invading government offices.

However, while authorities said that the protesters broke into the Finance Ministry and the Foreign Ministry, others provided a non-aggressive version of events.

Remote control doors at the Finance Ministry had been swung open by the civil servants inside, according to protest sources.

Accused of being biased in favor of the government, Thailand's mainstream television channels were being strongly criticised last night by other journalists at more independent outlets.

Uprising leader Suthep Thaugsuban - Deputy PM during the deadly government crackdown on the same Bangkok streets in 2010 - continued to urge a ''people's revolution'' to end Thaksin-inspired corruption and nepotism in Thailand.

In turbulent 2013, Thailand's cameras are what will tell the story.

The cameras high on the parapets, the cameras in mobile telephones on the streets, the cameras being used to broadcast directly to the watching world over the Internet.

But today the images are being interrupted, the shrouds are going on, and the future of Thailand is blurring or blanking out.

VIDEO: Police Killing a Camera in Bankok

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=446557612112437/

Comments

Comments have been disabled for this article.

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They could learn in Phuket. Like the one cam in Bangla, that should watch down the road (as it did, the days of google took pictures for street view. Actually, I did read about it, a year or 2 ago. Either in here, or in the other Phuket thing, online. No changes, till now.) to Soi crocodile, is watching now 'Soi Eric'. Must be a big coincidence, that short after the moving into Soi Eric, the loris touts started to show up, at that spot.
And this re-adjusting is very, very effective. Never a question, b/c no illegal things to see, with that cam. Why waste plastic bags and time, if you can do it with a metal pole? You can even do it in the night, in civil cloth, so that no pictures are showing, police is involved!

Posted by Anonymous on November 26, 2013 12:54

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Thailand must move away from this coup, election, coup, election cycle. Democracy means that one side has won an election and has the right to form government. It also means that the loser get another chance at the next election NOT by going to the streets and using violence.

Posted by Arthur on November 26, 2013 13:59

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Am I reading this with own two eyes?

I really cant believe it!

Twilight zone?

Posted by J on November 26, 2013 16:26

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Perhaps PW could interview someone to find out who ordered the cameras to be covered. Unfortunately, Seh Daeng is not available.

Posted by Buster on November 26, 2013 20:11


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