A strange way to act in name of democracy

This would be a minority takedown of an elected government. These red shirts should be planning to take part in the next democratic election if they think they can win and truly desire democracy. Why destroy the fragile economy? This Thaksin-financed behaviour further divides the nation and doesn't achieve any democratic transformation but simply gets him off the hook so he's free to rob the nation again. Such foolish, naive people should have no say in government.

TIM DEVLIN

TORONTO

Has nobody learnt from the Santika tragedy?

Given the horrendous fire in a Bangkok nightclub in which scores of people lost their lives, I was shocked today to find the doors in the Platinum Centre at Pratunam padlocked.

 The reason was clearly the red-shirt protests taking place close by. CentralWorld, which we had tried to visit earlier, had already closed. This raises its own issues since the protests were peaceful.

 The dangers of padlocking doors shut clearly have not yet been learned in Thailand. I hope that you will help to highlight the very real dangers of this kind of disregard for public safety.

RICHARD THEZE

BANGKOK

Hit the red-shirt taxi drivers where it hurts

The march of the red shirts to obstruct traffic in Bangkok is nothing really new. Their taxis and motorcycle taxis have been doing that for many years, thanks to Thaksin, who allowed anybody to drive a taxi in Bangkok, leading to a tripling of taxis on the road.

On the other hand, if the red shirts want to make the life of the Bangkok people difficult, well we can do the same for them. What if nobody uses any taxi or motorcycle showing support for the red shirts? Why not look for their red ribbons or ask them straight away, if they support the red shirts? If they do, why not send them off empty?

After all, we as passengers have the right to choose which taxi we want to use. Let Thaksin pay for their daily living, if they think he's the best thing that has happened to them since sliced bread...

If it weren't against the Constitution and the feeling of most if not all Thais, I would think, why not set up the Northeast as a separate entity, which can then be ruled by Thaksin. If they insist so much on being taken advantage |of, the why not let the dictator be their CEO, their chief exploiting officer?

SAM MUNICH

BANGKOK

Thaksin should allow his kids to lead normal lives

Mr Thaksin,

I'm writing this letter to shed some light on your struggle to bring back your seized assets.

I'm not going to say who's right or wrong in this battle.

The only thing I want to point out is that even if you don't care about the hardship caused to other people by this prolonged fight, don't you think your children have suffered enough.

Just because of your sole unwillingness to surrender, they have lost a chance to have a warm, loving and peaceful home to return to, that is, if you understand the meaning of home at all!

They are also suffering from a lack of a normal life other families enjoy.

So, please come to your senses and let them lead a happy life.

METTA

BANGKOK

Anupong won't get results by waving a white flag

Army chief General Anupong refuses to use force in dealing with the protesters, and insists on a peaceful approach. This is fine - but the way he's carrying out this approach is no different from surrendering after a few words with the red shirts. What do cops do if, say, they're trying to subdue a bunch of unarmed drunks who are resisting arrest by pushing back? The cops use unarmed techniques to quell the suspects, using minimum force - and that's what the government should do.

If the protesters stick to non-violence and become inert, bodily lift them up into the paddy wagons. If, as the general fears, the hardcore protesters become violent, then the authorities will be justified in gradually escalating the minimum level of force needed to carry out the law.

Make sure that the international press and human-rights organisations have full access to the operations in dispersing the demonstrators, both to restrain both sides and ensure that if violence does break out, it will be evident who started it.

General, you don't get demonstrators, though unarmed, to give others their lawful rights by vigorously waving a white flag.

BURIN KANTABUTRA

BANGKOK

Shocked by naiveté of Abhisit and his advisers

Re: "Abhisit Red-Faced", Nation, April 7

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is in trouble.

While many debate whether his reluctance to confront and remove the protesters from Rajprasong and the rest of Bangkok is a smart move, fact is, Abhisit's inaction at the time of this writing is strangling the city.

His excuses for pursuing "non-confrontation" to remove the protesters are a joke. He is not debating his classmates at Oxford. He is facing off against ruthless rogues bent on destroying him. They could not care less who looks smarter or wins the battle of words.

The red-shirt leaders, in particular Natthawut Saikua and Jatuporn Promphan, have made it abundantly clear that they will only stop protesting if Abhisit dissolves Parliament and calls for new elections in 15 days. But Abhisit doesn't seem to hear this. He seems content to try diplomatic means, while the red shirts wreak havoc on Bangkok. This is admirable, but totally ineffectual and foolish at this point. |He has entered a gunfight with a knife.

While I admire Abhisit for trying to resolve this political conflict without violence, I am surprised at his naiveté, as well as the naiveté of his advisers. Don't they know that behind the red shirts their opponent is a desperate man - former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who will do anything to see Abhisit and his government destroyed?

Negotiating with the red-shirt leader is like negotiating directly with Thaksin. Would Abhisit do this, I wonder? Would anyone with any common sense and street savvy do this?

It is also very worrying that the police and Army seem to hesitate to fight with the protesters. From the video footage of Tuesday's skirmishes at Rajprasong between the red shirts and riot police, you would think the red shirts were the older brother beating up his smaller sibling.

The riot police were cowering, backing down and in the end seemed to disappear. Is this what riot police normally do? Even if they were ordered to stop the protesters without using violence, their performance was appalling. They were useless.

Afterwards, there were smiles for all, as the police wore red bandannas, waved, shook hands with the reds and smiled for the camera. Seems that a fair number of them are either neutral or support the red shirts. Not a surprise, given Thaksin's earlier career in the police force. He must still have a lot of friends there.

Abhisit might be in danger of losing the support of the police, Army and people of Bangkok, |who are shocked at his indecisiveness and reaction to the bold red shirts.

If he is to recover and bring back order to the capital, then he needs to force the protesters to vacate Rajprasong, Silom and other key areas of the city and move to designated protest areas. He has water cannons, sound machines and other non-lethal means of achieving this. He should use them.

The time for talk and eloquent debate is over. We need to end the seizure of Bangkok now. Anything less is failure.

OUTRAGED TAXPAYER

BANGKOK