Videos: Anger in Ubon Ratchathani
The Thai Report, a blog similar styled to The Drudge Report, has posted some video footage from Ubon Ratchathani in the Isan region, a stronghold of the red shirts. The first video is from Friday and shows a rally stage who were, apart from the usual singing and dancing and debating, mourning one killed man from Ubon, Inn-Plaeng Theswong (อินแปลง เทศวงศ์), a 32-year-old taxi driver. His name also appears on this official list of killed victims so far (PDF).
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjZmNOWpOeQ&w=600&h=360]
The second video is from Sunday and shows a large group of red shirts protesters setting fire barricades in front of the 2nd Air Division/21st Wing Air Combat Command Air Force Base. Also, see this photo gallery.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rl2R7pInbSg&w=600&h=360]
Shortly after that, the CRES has declared a state of emergency in five more provinces, Ubon Ratchathani is one of them.
The last video shows that the red shirts have gathered at the same stage as Friday again, this time to watch the speeches from the main rally stage in Bangkok and also watch some foreign news clips as well. Even though the state of emergency has been declared in this city, they were still setting up burning barricades and as the blogger, who posted the video, states "saw only one policeman and he was watching the videos in the red shirt media tent."
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy943TA-c7c&w=600&h=360]
Even though this may not be representative for other provinces in Thailand, but these incidents show that news from the capital are spreading very fast these days and the more people are killed, the more the anger in the rural areas grows. The red leaders have been repeatedly urging the red shirts in the provinces to rally at the city halls and, in case the Bangkok siege is forcefully cracked down, to storm them. These pictures also suggest the growing divide between Bangkok and the rest of the country that will grow with each day the crisis goes on and even if the current protest will come to an end (in what form whatsoever), the conflict for potential in rural Thailand grows and the situation can get volatile in the run-up to the next election (whenever that will take place...).