September 2, 2008 (LPAC) - Pro-government demonstrators clashed this morning with the fascist mob which has occupied the Government House in Bangkok for the past week, with dozens of injuries and one death from a gunshot wound. Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej immediately declared a state of emergency on a nationally broadcast TV speech, stating clearly that "They must be moved from the Government House. I had no other choice but to declare a state of emergency in Bangkok in order to solve the problem once and for all."

However, it appears that the military is following orders from the Privy Council, not the Prime Minister. Army Commander in Chief Anupong Paojinda deployed a few hundred soldiers to the streets, but openly defied Samak's orders: "Our main task is to avoid any clash between two groups with different opinions," he said, and that the army's "enforcement" of the state of emergency would be based on the "principle of democracy" and rely on negotiation and not force - i.e., he is effectively using the troops to protect the mob. His repeated refrain that there would be no military coup may or may not be true, but there is only one way to remove the mob, which is to use force, or to force the resignation of Samak and his government as demanded by the mob. The latter appears to be the army's position. The soldiers are not even armed.

Aggravating the crisis, the Election Commission ruled today that it would recommend the total disbanding of the ruling People's Power Party, on the grounds that one of its leaders had been found guilty of vote fraud. The Election Commission is one of the Star Chamber dictatorial courts set up during the military junta's rule after the ouster of the last democratically elected leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, in 2006, by the same fascist mob on the streets today.