In Bangkok
IT WAS a night of rumours, tension and not a little boredom.
It was the second night in a row that People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protestors laid seige to Government House, refusing to comply with an order by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to leave his official compound.
At 3am yesterday morning, about 200 police had occupied an enclave within the compound just behind Government House. By last night, even after the government obtained arrest warrants for nine PAD members and an eviction order, the police were still there - and still vastly outnumbered.
The siege continues.
Source: AFP
I reached Makkawan bridge at around 10.30pm last night and walked up to Government House, where PAD co-leader General Chamlong Srimuang was expected to be arrested along with his colleagues at 11pm.
The mood was distinctly more sombre than the previous night, which had been tinged by euphoria as the PAD seized Government House. At the complex itself, there were many more people, and entrance gates were under tighter control by the PAD "guards".
I worked my way through the crowd and around to the back where, across makeshift steel barriers, PAD protestors sat on the ground facing a phalanx of police with riot shields and helmets. The tension, while palpable, had not exactly reached danger levels, but the party was clearly over.
Parlaying my press card, I wormed my way through the seated crowd and layers of PAD ''security guards'' - some of them armed with crude wooden baseball bats, some with swords on their backs wrapped in black cloth - ducked under a rope and climbed over a fence to go behind the police lines.
Rows of police were sitting, sleeping, and smoking out on the asphalt, their shields and helmets next to them. Occasionally there would be a change of shift and those at the barrier would come and take off their body armour and lie down for a rest.
They had opened one building as a command post of sorts and switched on the air-conditioning. But they would not let me in. At one point a squad walked into the building with tear gas launchers.
I sat among them with a journalist friend, and we scanned the surroundings to determine where to take shelter if a riot occurred. We were boxed in completely, and were certain to be caught in the middle, which is never a good idea. So we figured out which buildings to break into to find shelter if the need arose.
Rumours flew fast and furious. Would the police strike tonight, or not? The police chief said they would not, but many did not believe it. To me, with up to 10,000 people in and around Government House, at least half of them women, it was obvious that a few hundred policemen were insufficient to effect any arrests or disperse the crowd without risking a serious stampede.
The PAD had surrounded the police, who were in effect cornered themselves. But hundreds more policemen were apparently on streets nearby, while trucks and vans had arrived to take the protestors away.
The protestors, however, weren't planning on going anywhere.
My journalist friend had an altercation with a PAD guard when he did not let him leave the area despite seeing his press card. When the argument became nasty, a young girl came out to pacify him. Likewise, I tried to pacify them both. She turned out to be a graduate student from Ramkhamhaeng and was hopelessly out of her depth.
I tried to calm my colleague down, but he did have a point in saying that the PAD guards were behaving like militia and had no authority to dictate who could or could not leave the area. Later, we discovered eight salesgirls who had happened to be in Government House and were stuck there because the PAD would not let them out.
By sitting tight and waiting it out, the government risks appearing weak - unable to enforce court orders and repossess its seat of power. General Chamlong is known for going for his goal whatever the cost – even if it means they will not clear Government House on Saturday when the Crown Prince is scheduled to arrive for an engagement.
This morning, the government said it was possible that the Crown Prince's schedule could be rearranged. That may be construed as the first blink in this stare-down, but it could also be seen as the PAD forcing him to change his plans, which does not look good. The PAD is going to file an appeal against the court injunction ordering the protestors to leave Government House.
It is eyeball to eyeball now, and nobody really knows how the cards will fall. Interior Minister General Kowit Wattana will be giving a press conference soon, so we'll have to wait and see.