[ti:Military Returns Order After Protests, but Thailand Remains Divided]
[ar:Steve Ember]
[al:IN THE NEWS]
[by:51voa.com]
[00:00.00]www.51voa.com
[00:04.32]This is IN THE NEWS
[00:05.61]in VOA Special English.
[00:08.70]Thailand's prime minister
[00:11.58]is urging national unity
[00:13.77]after ten weeks
[00:15.66]of anti-government protests
[00:18.05]in the capital.
[00:19.54]Abhisit Vejjajiva says
[00:21.93]the government has returned
[00:24.02]order in Bangkok and the provinces.
[00:27.21]In a speech Friday he said
[00:30.39]he recognized the divisions
[00:32.73]that have taken place in the country.
[00:35.03]He promised that the government
[00:37.78]will meet what he called
[00:39.57]"the huge challenges ahead of us."
[00:42.81]On Wednesday, the Thai army
[00:45.89]removed the protesters
[00:47.53]by force from their camp
[00:49.87]in the city center.
[00:51.76]The military operation left
[00:54.35]at least seven people dead.
[00:56.79]Days of violent clashes
[00:59.48]and rioting caused more than
[01:02.16]one billion dollars in damage.
[01:05.20]An estimated five thousand
[01:07.69]protesters known as Red Shirts
[01:10.28]occupied a three square kilometer
[01:13.46]area of Bangkok's business district.
[01:16.89]Their leaders said they were
[01:19.28]a non-violent democracy movement
[01:22.83]representing poor and rural people.
[01:26.36]Naruemon Chabchumpon
[01:28.65]is political science director
[01:31.09]at Chulalongkorn University.
[01:33.68]She says the Red Shirts damaged
[01:36.76]their public image by their actions.
[01:39.66]At first the leaders
[01:42.10]demanded new elections.
[01:44.54]The government
[01:46.42]proposed elections for November,
[01:49.00]and the Red Shirts accepted.
[01:51.74]But later they made other demands,
[01:54.73]like arrests of government officials.
[01:57.61]By the end, the professor says,
[02:01.05]the Red Shirts were continually
[02:03.63]changing their demands.
[02:05.92]NARUEMON CHABCHUMPON: "So at that time
[02:07.47]I think the public in Bangkok feel that,
[02:09.86]or start to wonder,
[02:11.95]what is their real demand?"
[02:14.43](SOUND)
[02:15.78]When the military finally
[02:16.23]moved against the protesters,
[02:18.40]there was armed resistance.
[02:20.65]Protesters shot at soldiers
[02:23.44]and set fire to buildings
[02:25.43]including big stores.
[02:27.62]Red Shirts and human rights groups
[02:30.91]condemned the government's use
[02:33.24]of deadly force to end the protests.
[02:36.43]Since the demonstrations
[02:38.52]began in March, at least
[02:40.96]eighty-three people were killed and
[02:43.65]one thousand eight hundred wounded.
[02:46.93]The protests have also hurt tourism,
[02:50.17]a major industry in Thailand.
[02:53.05]The prime minister's term
[02:55.69]ends in January of two thousand twelve.
[02:59.27]Political scientist Naruemon Chabchumpon says
[03:03.51]to prevent more unrest,
[03:06.20]the government needs
[03:07.59]to hold new elections.
[03:09.34]She also thinks the government
[03:12.27]needs to direct more economic
[03:15.02]assistance to rural areas.
[03:17.95]The protesters largely support
[03:21.34]Thaksin Shinawatra,
[03:23.13]the prime minister overthrown
[03:25.63]by the army in two thousand six.
[03:28.46]His policies made him popular
[03:31.35]with much of the rural and working poor.
[03:35.38]But much of the middle class
[03:37.92]and urban wealthy accused him
[03:40.82]of corruption and abuse of power.
[03:43.65]Thailand's political crisis
[03:46.55]is often described simply
[03:48.99]as a fight between the poor and the rich.
[03:51.92]Yet in the south, for example,
[03:54.96]support for the protesters
[03:57.31]is low even among the poor.
[04:00.29]And in the northeast,
[04:02.58]many middle-class people
[04:04.57]support the Red Shirts.
[04:06.91]Thaksin Shinawatra went
[04:09.50]into exile in Cambodia
[04:11.44]to avoid a prison sentence
[04:13.94]for corruption.
[04:15.48]The government says he helped
[04:18.17]organize the protests,
[04:19.96]a charge he denies.
[04:22.50]He has called for an outside negotiator
[04:26.36]to settle the crisis,
[04:28.30]an idea the government rejects.
[04:31.49]And that's IN THE NEWS
[04:33.78]in VOA Special English,
[04:36.46]written by Brianna Blake
[04:38.16]with additional reporting
[04:40.59]by Brian Padden in Bangkok.
[04:43.08]I'm Steve Ember.
END OF TRACK. "END OF TRACK." The two men bowed. "Whoever was that person you were talking to?" she enquired, as soon as they stood together. The took of triumph faded from her eyes, she had grown worn and weary. The roses were wilting on the walls, the lights were mostly down now. Hetty, looking in to see if anything was wanted, found herself driven away almost fiercely. I only saw Master Jervie once when he called at tea time, The year 1747 was opened by measures of restriction. The House of Lords, offended at the publication of the proceedings of the trial of Lord Lovat, summoned the parties to their bar, committed them to prison, and refused to liberate them till they had pledged themselves not to repeat the offence, and had paid very heavy fees. The consequence of this was that the transactions of the Peers were almost entirely suppressed for nearly thirty years from this time, and we draw our knowledge of them chiefly from notes taken by Horace Walpole and Lord Chancellor Hardwicke. What is still more remarkable, the reports of the House of Commons, being taken by stealth, and on the merest sufferance, are of the most meagre kind, sometimes altogether wanting, and the speeches are given uniformly under fictitious names; for to have attributed to Pitt or Pelham their[112] speeches by name would have brought down on the printers the summary vengeance of the House. Many of the members complained bitterly of this breach of the privileges of Parliament, and of "being put into print by low fellows"; but Pelham had the sense to tolerate them, saying, "Let them alone; they make better speeches for us than we can make for ourselves." Altogether, the House of Commons exhibited the most deplorable aspect that can be conceived. The Ministry had pursued Walpole's system of buying up opponents by place, or pension, or secret service money, till there was no life left in the House. Ministers passed their measures without troubling themselves to say much in their behalf; and the opposition dwindled to Sir John Hinde Cotton, now dismissed from office, and a feeble remnant of Jacobites raised but miserable resistance. In vain the Prince of Wales and the secret instigations of Bolingbroke and Doddington stimulated the spirit of discontent; both Houses had degenerated into most silent and insignificant arenas of very commonplace business. "It certainly will be. Miss Widgeon," answered Maria, with strictly "company manners." "One who has never had a brother exposed to the constant dangers of army life can hardly understand how glad we all feel to have Si snatched from the very jaws of death and brung back to us." "Just plug at 'em as you would at a crow, and then go on your way whistlin'?" persisted Harry. "Hurroo!" echoed Hennessey; "that's the ticket." "Come forward, keeper," continued the baron, "and state how these arrows came into your hands!" "Yes." HoMEJULIA¾©Ïã2018ÏÂÔØ
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