Bangkok

By Wayne Hay in Asia on April 12th, 2010
AFP photo

I've had a couple of days now to reflect on what I witnessed in Bangkok on Saturday night, and the sights and sounds of Thais battling each other still saddens me.

For myself and the rest of the crew - cameraman Mark Giddens and producer Siwaporn Tee - the day started quietly, with no firm plans released to us by the leaders of the red shirted anti-government protestors.

But at lunchtime, all that changed very quickly.

Walking towards our van near the protest site in the commercial district of the city, red shirts chanting grabbed our attention.

They were telling us the police were coming to break up their month-long rally.

Tense standoff

We ran with them for two blocks to a main intersection leading into the area to find several hundred riot police spanning the road.

They had already been surrounded by red shirts and a tense standoff developed.

By Wayne Hay in Asia on March 16th, 2010
Photo by AFP

Despite remaining professionally impartial in the ongoing political dispute in Thailand, I can't help but think the anti-government protestors made a mistake with their latest stunt in Bangkok.

The so-called Red Shirts spent the day taking blood from their supporters, and then poured it around the entrances to Government House.

They were attempting to put further pressure on Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, to dissolve parliament and call an election.

The reds marched from their base to Government House, and when the leaders arrived in two trucks they tried to force their way through the crowd to the blockade which had been set up by the security forces.

In doing so, they could have seriously hurt some of us caught between their trucks and the fence blocking the protestors from going any further.

People were crushed up against the fence with nowhere to go. The Red Shirts are lucky no one was hurt.

By Wayne Hay in Asia on March 12th, 2010
roadblock.jpg
 
I write this sitting on the side of a highway about 60 kilometres out of the Thai capital, Bangkok, and all I can think about are faeces and fermented fish.
 
We're at a military checkpoint which has been set up to monitor the flow of protestors heading into the city for Sunday's mass anti-government demonstration.
 
The red shirted supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have been busy mixing up a disgusting and smelly concoction of faeces and fermented fish to throw at anyone who might get in their way.
 
Therefore I'm thinking of investing in a very thick, full length jacket for protection.
Tags: Bangkok
By Gabriel Elizondo in Americas on November 11th, 2009
Photo by Reuters
Blackout. Simple as that.
 
By now, you probably heard the news that Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and cities in 18 different Brazilian states were plunged into darkness last night with a massive power outage.
 
I am in Sao Paulo now, but when I heard the news last night, I was in the Houston, Texas airport waiting to board a flight back home. But from those I have spoken to since returning to Brazil this morning, it was a scary night that caused panic on the streets but no major public security incidents.
 
For those of you who have never been to Sao Paulo, and can’t imagine what the city would be like in total darkness, just imagine New Delhi totally without power. Or Los Angeles, Mexico City, or Bangkok.
 

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