TPN/PAD activists arrested

MCOT News reports that police have “arrested Yellow Shirt People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) activists Chaiwat Sinsuwong and Somboon Thongburan for their alleged roles in the PAD’s airport seizures in late 2008.”

Chaiwat (L) and Chamlong (R)

Chaiwat faces several charges including “terrorism” and he did not request bail. Somboon’s several charges do not include “terrorism.” Interestingly, while both men have been highly visible since the airports occupations in 2008, police only delivered a “court writ to detain them at Maboonkrong Centre … after they led the Thai Patriots Network, a PAD splinter group [sic], on its Tuesday morning march from Government House to the Grand Palace to petition His Majesty the King for his intervention in helping seven Thais charged with trespassing on Cambodian territory. The network accused the government of failing to help them.” That petition is said to have had 82,136 people signatures. PPT posted on this earlier, here and here.

PPT disagrees that TPN is a “splinter” group of PAD because it appears to have very strong support from the yellow-hued media, including ASTV/Manager and is backed by core PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang.

What is truly interesting in this account is the apparent similarity of tactic adopted by the Democrat Party-led government to harass red shirt opposition. PPT has pointed out several times that when the red shirts begin to engage in political mobilization, the government immediately engages in a series of attacks and symbolic arrests. Now that the yellow shirts are mobilizing again – this time against the government rather than against red shirts – the same tactic is used. The Abhisit Vejjajiva government appears to have a series of stock measures to implement to discourage such mobilization.