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| Anti-government protesters remove part of a barricade to occupy the government house (CNN) |
The origin of this conflicts originates from Yingluck's brother's, Thaksin Shinawatra, time in office. Thaksin, described by CNN as a "deeply polarizing figure", won power in 2001, with the support of Thailand's rural villagers. Many elites and critics accused him of corruption, and was subsequently deposed of in a 2010 coup. He is currently in exile.
His sister, Yingluck, took over the office, much to the chagrin of those opposed to Thaksin. The head of protesters and former deputy prime minister of the Democrat Party, Suthep Thaugsuban, states “Yingluck should listen to the people and return power to the people." He has accused the current Thai government as being autocratic and lacking true democracy.
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| Protesters run from tear gas fired by riot police (CNN) |
It is unclear what the outcome of this conflict will be. It is predicted that Yingluck will continue to stay in power. What is known is that there will be political unrest in Thai for some time.
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http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/26/world/asia/thailand-protests-explainer/index.html
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-12-01/thai-protesters-seek-yingluck-s-ouster-as-one-killed-in-bangkok.html
3 comments:
I find it interesting that Yingluck is still in power, when the police are obviously using violent means to suppress the protest. The protestors seem like they are not going to back off until she is steps down from her position. She can do two things: hold new elections, or control the country. And unfortunately violence will be involved in the process of controlling the country, if she decides to do so. I doubt that she would voluntarily step down from her regime to protect her "absolutely no violence" claim. The police are already taking action, and she is ignoring their violence. From this, I think Yingluck is gonna start using more violence in her attempt to stabilize the country, and her "no violence" statement will mean nothing very soon.
I just saw the Hunger Games 2 and so many things relate to it! By the citizens not being treated right by the government. Of course not as extreme as the citizens desire a more cleaner country (environment and exhaust). They also want to be freed from Yingluck and the evil crimes that she committed in 2010. It is truly appalling that 90 innocent people were killed. there has been an increase in the numbers of protests since people from bordering countries are protesting as well, protests numbers have been fluctuating from 200,000 to 700,000 on some sights compared to the first ten of thousands during the first week of protests.
Evidently, Yingluck's promise of "absolutely no violence" has already been broken, so I doubt that she will be able to keep similar promises in the future. Given the number of anti-government protesters and the conditions they are currently facing, I think that tensions in Thailand are only going to escalate. It doesn't seem like Yingluck is about to give up her power, and it is highly unlikely that the protesters are going to back down, especially since the police are now trying to arrest their leader. I do not like the idea of more conflict in Thailand, but given the fact that neither side will willingly back down any time soon, I think it's safe to predict that we are going to be seeing a lot more violence in the future.
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