Thai authorities are going after pro-Thaksin broadcast stations. Police raided three radio stations and a TV station, seizing equipment and arresting personnel, media reports said.

The “Bangkok Post” also reported that the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) ordered all community radio stations to refrain from broadcasting messages that might cause political unrest on pain of facing closure.  

Police raided a radio station in Chiang Mai province operated by the group Rak Chiang Mai 51, known for supporting former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Transmission equipment were seized even as some 200 Red Shirts gathered outside the radio station to protest.

In the northeastern province of Udon Thani, police also confiscated transmission equipment of a radio station run by Kwanchai Praipana, leader of the pro-Thaksin group Khon Rak Udon.

Wachira Khamsueb, a radio host of the station, was arrested and charged with broadcasting without a license. He was later released on bail.

Meanwhile, a hundred members of the Khon Rak Udon protested in front of the police station.

Another radio station sympathetic to the Red Shirts, this time in Lampang province, was also raided.

On 16 April, some 30 policemen entered the premises of DStation at the Imperial Department Store in Lad Phrao, Bangkok. The police found none of the TV station’s staff. The seized several broadcasting devices.

The Red Shirts used DStation to broadcast Thaksin’s speeches and also provided news coverage of the Red Shirt demonstrations.

Troops on 13 April seized control of the Thaicom satellite station in Lat Lum Kaew, Pathum Thani province, which is used by DStation.