On Friday, the Manager office was mobbed by a few hundred jeering and booing taxi motorcyclists for hire. There was a brief clash but no serious injuries or damage to property.

The three violent incidents occurred in the span of three days, all caused by pro-government crowds, mostly induced by certain incentives. Deep-pocketed politicians are willing to hire jobless or poor people to form protest groups and put pressure on their targets.

What happened at the Nation Group complex marked a significant twist. For months, the pro-democracy alliance has been holding rallies, protests and street demonstrations peacefully. Despite a strong police presence, there has been no apparent harm of any kind.

The crowd organised by the so-called "Caravan of the Poor" was anything but poor. They were organised and transported in scores of coaches and vans to block the entry and exit points, barring people from entering or leaving the complex.

The mob, comprising youngsters who were obviously drunk and senseless, threatened women who wanted to leave the compound with beastly acts such as gang rape and physical assault. It was sheer horror.

What's more, those half-crazed men spoke Khmer dialects widely used in Buri Ram and Si Sa Ket. There is no doubt that they were herded by politicians with a stronghold in those areas.

Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra showed no remorse for his failure to maintain law and order. To a certain extent, he might have been pleased to see his adversaries and critics experience their own share of bad times.

He did not instruct law enforcement officials to strictly abide by the law and take action against pro-government mobs who have used lawlessness to intimidate and harass their targets.

Journalists and other employees of Kom Chad Luek, a sister publication of The Nation, were held under duress and against their will for more than eight hours while the police on guard were helpless to enforce law and order.

The mob hired by politicians in power was clearly unruly, savage and brutal. If they possessed rationale and sense, they certainly did not show these qualities during the hours they held people captive inside the Nation Group complex.

These three recent events could be seen as the signal for a time of anarchy and lawlessness. Politicians in power saw these incidents as a lesson for the pro-democracy alliance and freedom-loving people.

Thaksin urged his admirers to cease and desist from such savage acts. His tone was hardly convincing or indicative of what he really meant. Actually, it could have been his earlier negative remark about the planned campaign of the Democrats that fanned the violence.

This also marked a crucial twist. It is quite reasonable to say that Thaksin will surely think twice if he wants to set foot in the South, now that the people there have become more antagonistic towards him.

With Thaksin in charge, and his dogged stubbornness not to resign as widely demanded, not only could there be a class war between urban dwellers and the rural grassroots supporters of Thaksin, there could be a flare-up of divisiveness between the North and the South.

The South is mainly pro-Democrat while Chiang Mai and some northern provinces want Thaksin with his generous style of pork-barrel politics to continue his saviour's role with freebies and populist plans to help the poor.

We go to the polls today and there aren't other choices, only candidates from Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai Party and a few also-ran parties. There is a widespread feeling that most urban voters might just opt for the "No vote" box to express their disapproval of the entire polling process.

That's why we must make a wise choice to break this dictatorship and remake our nation.

Sopon Onkgara

The Nation