PAD Protest - Toey

The People’s Alliance for Democracy is protesting again. On Tuesday, August 26, 2008, about 80 PAD members went over the gate and broke into the state-owned NBT premises on Vibhavadhi Rangsit Road and destroyed some of their property. If you were watching TV, you would’ve definitely seen some footage of the takeover. When they got in, they demanded the NBT staff and newscasters stop broadcasting. Somkiat Pongpaiboon was one of the 5 People’s Alliance for Democracy leaders and he said that the TV station was only being used as a mouthpiece for the government though being funded by taxpayers’ money so he was motivated by anger. At about 8.55 am, police escorted a number of NBT staff out of the premises in fear of being attacked by the demonstrators. The police found, after a brief search through the protesters, 11 handguns, 1 shotgun, golf clubs, and several knives of various kinds. It would be reasonable to say that the People’s Alliance for Democracy break-in at the NBT station was not successful, and it gave the people watching TV a very negative impression of them. However, this made the NBT look like heroes because they kept on broadcasting from various locations at the protest. The adults can be fined up to 10,000 baht. If this keeps on going and the demonstrations become violent, ISB will probably have a day off to protect the students, teachers, and staff. However, this has already affected some schools. A Thai school called Mater Dei already had a day off on Wednesday for its students because the school was on the same road that the demonstrations were at, which would cause even worse traffic. Luckily it hasn’t reached ISB yet.