The hysterical reaction to claimed “separatism” by red shirt activists in the north has seen the Democrat Party demanding that the Puea Thai Party be dissolved and anti-democrat groups calling for the caretaker government to be thrown out. The military, always predictably hysterical in such situations has reverted to 1960s/1970s counterinsurgency language and methods.
It may seem odd then that the anti-democrats themselves have created their own separated domain in the center of Bangkok.
The Bangkok Post reports that the anti-democrats have taken over Lumpini Park and have taken the law into their own hands, searching anyone entering the supposedly public park.
The anti-democrat bosses are “training 300 guards to boost security and ‘maintain politeness’ when checking people at its Lumpini rally site.”
Apparently this follows numerous complaints that “people passing the venue about being spoken to rudely and manhandled during searches of their belongings. There have also been allegations of assault.”
Of course this is normal for the anti-democrat guards who are thugs and military men. Politeness training is unlikely to stop them beating people up and leaving them for dead or carrying weapons with impunity as they attack or stalk others.
The thugs will undergo training in “self-defence” and “security” so they are “able to prevent PDRC leaders and supporters from being harmed without being unpleasant to people who visit the park to exercise or rest.” The “guards” are trained “to follow the orders of superiors unconditionally and to avoid using force with ill-intent.” We can but wonder how they will use force with “good intent” except to think that this might be something like the “aggressive self defense” seen recently at Laksi.
The anti-democrats seem to have created an anti-democrat mini-kingdom in the heart of the city, quite appropriately across the road from the Dusit Thani, named after a former king’s play kingdom.
Above the law, the anti-democrats are still able to act with impunity.
Political Prisoners in Thailand 