Bangkok Evicts the Poor Before Economic Summit

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50576-2003Oct19.html

BANGKOK, Oct. 20 -- This city of 10 million, known for its endless traffic jams and teeming street life, has been spruced up and locked down in preparation for the 21 leaders attending the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum that starts Monday. The cleanup has included barring thousands of street vendors from the central city, shipping 10,000 homeless people to army camps and banning more than 500 human rights activists from entering the country.




About 600 Cambodian beggars, mostly women and children, were rounded up and airlifted back home on C-130 Hercules military aircraft. About 3,000 stray dogs were caught and shipped to the countryside. And a banner four stories high and a quarter-mile long, displaying an image of the Grand Palace royal compound, was erected to conceal a slum community that leaders might have otherwise glimpsed.

Political analysts said the elaborate preparations -- which the Thai government justified for security reasons -- are intended to ensure that nothing mars Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's bid to use the APEC gathering to cement his emerging role as Southeast Asia's dominant statesman. But Thaksin's aggressive steps have also stirred concerns that they are a prelude to a broad crackdown on Thailand's active civic groups.

Earlier this month, Thaksin threatened to blacklist any nongovernmental organizations that held protests during the summit, which is being held at government buildings in central Bangkok. He said they would be barred from receiving land title deeds and government funds for poverty eradication programs "on the grounds that these people are not considering the country's image."

Thaksin has been heavily criticized for a campaign against drug dealers this year that left more than 3,000 people dead.
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[grasswire]

1. I'm thinking.....

....that the earth nearly deserves to get that astroid hit. Priorities are so screwed! There's such pretense and pride. Argh.

[PartyPooper]

2. Yep. This is so disgusting.

The depravity of the human mind never ceases to amaze me...even at the ripe old age of 55.

:evilfrown:

[Maple]

3. Well that's what happens

when protest groups riot at every frickin' event.

Sooner or later, the innocent suffer in the effort to cut down on the troublemakers.

[tkmorris]

5. Yep, sure

Those 10,000 homeless were abducted because they were going to violently protest. Oh and that ghetto needed to be covered to make people feel better, so they wouldn't get angry enough to protest. Sure thing, whatever you say. :7

[lebkuchen]

4. This is what Ferdinand Marcos used to do before each US presidential visit

Bangkok has a lot more going for it economically than Manila ever has. There have been Cambodian refugee camps near the border since the Vietnam War, so shipping the beggars "home" is odd. There are beggars in Bangkok, but it would be very unlikely * would ever see them under normal circumstances.