Thailand protests claim first lives

Thai army pulls back from protest clashes; 15 dead

By GRANT PECK

April 10 2010

BANGKOK — A crackdown on anti-government protesters in Thailand’s capital Saturday left at least 15 people dead and more than 650 injured, with no progress toward ending a monthlong standoff with demonstrators demanding new elections.

It was the worst violence in Bangkok since more than four dozen people were killed in an antimilitary protest in 1992. Bullet casings, rocks and pools of blood littered the streets where pitched battles raged for hours.

Army troops later retreated and asked protesters to do the same, resulting in an unofficial truce.

Four soldiers and 11 civilians, including a Japanese cameraman, were killed, according to the government’s Erawan emergency center.

The savage fighting erupted after security forces tried to push out demonstrators who have been staging a month of disruptive protests demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajva dissolve Parliament and call new elections.

The demonstrations are part of a long-running battle between the mostly poor and rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the ruling elite they say orchestrated the 2006 military coup that removed him from power on corruption allegations.

The protesters, called “Red Shirts” for their garb, see the Oxford-educated Abhisit as a symbol of an elite impervious to the plight of Thailand’s poor and claim he took office illegitimately in December 2008 after the military pressured Parliament to vote for him.

Saturday’s violence and failure to dislodge the protesters are likely to make it harder to end the political deadlock. Previously, both sides had exercised considerable restraint.

Abhisit “failed miserably,” said Michael Nelson, a German scholar of Southeast Asian studies working in Bangkok.

Tanet Charoengmuang, a political scientist at Chiang Mai University sympathetic to the Red Shirt’s cause, said he expects the fighting will resume because the protesters are unafraid and the government refused to listen to them.

Abhisit went on national television shortly before midnight to pay condolences to the families of victims and indirectly assert that he would not bow to the protesters’ demands.

“The government and I are still responsible for easing the situation and trying to bring peace and order to the country,” Abhisit said.

Nelson said he had been hopeful the situation would calm down after the troops pulled back but that Abhisit’s TV appearance raised doubts because he seemed “totally defiant.”

The army had vowed to clear the protesters out of one of their two bases in Bangkok by nightfall, but the push instead set off street fighting. There was a continuous sound of gunfire and explosions, mostly from Molotov cocktails. After more than two hours of fierce clashes, the soldiers pulled back.

Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd went on television to ask the protesters to retreat as well. He also accused them of firing live rounds and throwing grenades. An APTN cameraman saw two Red Shirt security guards carrying assault rifles.

At least 678 people were injured, according to the Erawan emergency center. The deaths included Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto, who worked for Thomson Reuters news agency. In a statement, Reuters said he was shot in the chest.

Most of the fighting took place around Democracy Monument, but spread to the Khao San Road area, a favorite of foreign backpackers.

Soldiers made repeated charges to clear the Red Shirts, while some tourists stood by watching. Two protesters and a Buddhist monk with them were badly beaten by soldiers and taken away by ambulance.

A Japanese tourist who was wearing a red shirt was also clubbed by soldiers until bystanders rescued him.

Thai media reported that several soldiers were captured by the protesters. Red Shirts also staged protests in several other provinces, seizing the provincial hall in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Thaksin’s hometown.

On Friday, the police and army failed to prevent demonstrators from breaking into the compound of a satellite transmission station and briefly restarting a pro-Red Shirt television station that had been shut down by the government under a state of emergency. The humiliating rout raised questions about how much control Abhisit has over the police and army.

Thailand’s military has traditionally played a major role in politics, staging almost a score of coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.

The Red Shirts have a second rally site in the heart of Bangkok’s upscale shopping district, and more troops were sent there Saturday as well. The city’s elevated mass transit system known as the Skytrain, which runs past that site, stopped running and closed all its stations.

Merchants say the demonstrations have cost them hundreds of millions of baht (tens of millions of dollars), and luxury hotels near the site have been under virtual siege.

Arrest warrants have been issued for 27 Red Shirt leaders, but none is known to have been taken into custody.

Associated Press writers Denis D. Gray, Jocelyn Gecker and Thanyarat Doksone contributed to this report. Source

Anti-government demonstrators run away from tear gas, during a clash against Thai security forces, Saturday, April 10, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai security forces launched a large-scale crackdown Saturday on anti-government demonstrators who have been staging disruptive protests in the Thai capital for the past month, vowing to clear one of their main encampments by nightfall. Scores of people have been hurt in street clashes. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)

Anti-government demonstrators run away from tear gas during a clash against Thai security forces, Saturday, April 10, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand. Thai security forces launched a large-scale crackdown Saturday on anti-government demonstrators who have been staging disruptive protests in the Thai capital for the past month, vowing to clear one of their main encampments by nightfall. Scores of people have been hurt in street clashes.(AP Photo/Wason Waintchakorn)

April 10 2010

At least four soldiers and four opposition protesters have been killed during clashes in the Thai capital Bangkok, with at least 500 others injured.

April 10 2010

The figures were given by Bangkok’s deputy governor. A bomb went off near the office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva but no one was injured.

Red-shirted protesters hurled rocks as troops tried to clear them from the capital’s historic district. Riot police responded by firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas. Tensions have been escalating as mass protests are entering their fifth week and supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra keep defying a state of emergency in the capital.

The protesters in Bangkok, numbering tens of thousands, are calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and fresh elections.

On Friday, a court issued a further 17 arrest warrants against opposition leaders accused of breaching emergency laws. None of them have so far been detained.  Source

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The banker who wouldn’t say sorry

The banker who wouldn’t say sorry

By Sean Farrell and Nick Clark

October 14 2008

He may have been forced to resign as chief executive of the Royal Bank of Scotland after going cap in hand to the Government for up to £20bn, but there was one thing Sir Fred Goodwin could not utter. Sorry is always the hardest word. Sir Fred, who earned £4.1m last year, said he would not have chosen to leave in the circumstances under which he is stepping down, but declined invitations to apologise for events that have seen RBS transformed from one of the top 10 banks in the world to a state-controlled lender.

RBS had already tapped shareholders for £12bn in June to shore up its threadbare safety buffer, but the record rights issue did nothing to maintain confidence. The bank was left exposed by its takeover of the Dutch bank ABN Amro last year and was hit by £5.9bn of losses this year after expansion into racy credit markets, including parcelling up sub-prime loans in the US.

Asked if he would like to apologise for the ABN deal, Sir Fred said: “The takeover of ABN Amro is not the cause of all this. We would be having a lot of these write-downs and difficulties and the world would still be in a financial crisis.” He will leave once he has handed over to Stephen Hester, the boss of British Land. Sir Fred said he would waive his right to a £1.2m payoff when he leaves, but he will be entitled to an annual pension £579,000.

Sir Tom McKillop, the chairman, who will stand down at next year’s annual meeting, said there was “some contrition” about the bank’s plight. Johnny Cameron, who runs the financial markets business that incurred the credit losses, left the board yesterday. His fate will be decided by Mr Hester.

Andy Hornby, the chief executive of HBOS, and his chairman, Lord Stevenson of Coddenham, will also lose their jobs when Britain’s biggest mortgage lender is swallowed by Lloyds TSB early next year. Mr Hornby is forfeiting his £940,000 payoff and Lord Stevenson will waive £710,000.

Sir Fred is just one of several victims of a crackdown on the City bonus culture championed yesterday by the Prime Minister. Senior executives at Royal Bank of Scotland, HBOS and Lloyds TSB are set to miss out on an almost £20m payday this year after Gordon Brown promised to wage war on bonuses for the bailed-out bankers.

Announcing the £37bn rescue package for banks, the Prime Minister attacked the culture of excessive bonuses, saying he wanted to “bring an end to rewards for failure”, adding: “The guiding idea is fair reward for hard work, effort and enterprise, not incentives for irresponsibility or excessive risk-taking for which the rest of us have paid.” He said the banks need to create “a system of remuneration founded on long-term success, not short-term irresponsibility”.

Mr Brown’s warning was backed by a notice from the Financial Services Authority, which wrote to all the chief executives of UK banks complaining that “inappropriate” bonus schemes were contributing to the crisis in the markets. The FSA’s chief executive, Hector Sants, wrote of the “widespread concern that inappropriate remuneration schemes may have contributed to the present market crisis”.

Three of the four other directors at RBS also received seven-figure performance fees in 2007. RBS said it would ban the bonuses this year, and look at an incentive scheme based on share awards from next year. At Lloyds, the chief executive, Eric Daniels, was awarded a bonus of £1.7m last year, part of an executive bonus pool worth £5.9m.

HBOS executives shared £3.9m. Peter Cummings, chief executive of corporate business, received a bonus of £1.6m, while chief executive, Andy Hornby, was awarded £449,000.

While the bonus crackdown will apply to board directors, RBS insisted yesterday that it would continue to offer “competitive” remuneration packages. City recruitment experts said bank staff below the top level were likely to continue to receive large payments, depending on performance.

The Centre for Economics and Business Research reported last week that bonuses in the City could plunge by more than half this year. in 2008, the bonus pool was £8.5bn. The research group has already slashed its predictions from £5bn, and predicted it could hit as low as £3.6bn as bonuses are restructured and headcount is cut.

The investment bankers tend to take the headlines when it comes to giant bonus payments. Among these were Bob Diamond, the president and head of investment banking at Barclays. His base salary was £250,000 last year, but with bonuses and options, his total remuneration was worth £18.5m.

Jon Moulton, the boss of the private equity group Alchemy Partners, told the Treasury Select Committee that linking bonuses to employee performance over just a year was “absolutely wrong”. “Salaries can be high but it’s the incentive payments that do the damage,” he said.

The FSA’s letter comes after the regulator held a series of “high level” discussions with London firms over their remuneration policies. it intends to visit the companies who have received the letter but would not become involved in setting remuneration levels.

The TUC criticised the regulator’s move as too soft yesterday. Brendan Barber, the general secretary, said: “Today’s FSA letter … simply sets out boxes to tick, and it has no teeth. We take the rather old-fashioned view that bankers, like the vast majority of people at work, should be paid a proper wage for doing a good job, and should not require bonuses to get up in the morning.”

The banking business: The bosses and their bonuses

HBOS: Andy Hornby, Chief executive
Salary: £940,000
Bonus: £450,000
Total: £1.39m

Lloyds TSB: Eric Daniels, Chief executive
Salary: £960,000
Bonus: £1.81m
Total: £2.77m

Barclays: John Varlet, Chief executive
Salary: £980,000
Bonus: £1.43m
Total: £2.41m

RBS: Fred Goodwin, Chief executive
Salary: £1.29m
Bonus: £2.86m
Total: £4.15m

Source