APEC Summit Post-Mortem: Bangkok Protest Chaos, Crisis Management & Business Continuity Planning
Part 2
A Follow up to All Eyes on APEC Summit: A History of Thailand's Protests.
We shall examine the fallout from the ensuing protests alluded to in the previous article, as well as the reprimands made against both the protesters and the authorities for the way they handled crowd control and excessive use of force. Then we can analyse best practices for businesses to activate their various emergency response plans, crisis management teams, and ensure business continuity.
The Chaos
The protest group called Ratsadon spearheaded the intention to march from Bangkok’s City Hall to the APEC summit venue on the morning of November 18th to protest the meeting.
A separate group calling itself “Citizens Stop Apec 2022’’ began to converge at the Sirikit National Convention Centre, the venue for the Apec summit. Police asked for cooperation from the protesters return to the Lan Khon Muang Town Square in front of Bangkok City Hall; a site that the authorities had designated for their gathering (note how this attempted ‘designated protest site’ is an alarming trend adopted by governments around the world in lockstep).
Quoted directly from Bangkok Post:
Police used shields and rubber batons to stop the crowd. They later arrested eight demonstrators, seven men and one woman, who were taken to Thung Song Hong police station. Angry demonstrators kept shouting “Release our friends!’’ as they gathered near the front row of police on Din So Road. Riot control police armed with tear gas were in the second row.
About 10.05am, anti-government activist Patsaravalee “Mind’’ Tanakitvibulpon made a speech from atop a vehicle, criticising the government for using police to fight the people. She said the riot police actions were tantamount to a violation of human rights and the liberty of the people, whose rights were protected under the democratic and constitutional systems. She demanded the immediate release of he eight protesters.Around 10.12am, riot control police began firing rubber bullets. Ms Patsaravalee asked why they had to fire rubber bullets at people with empty hands.
Ms Patsaravalee later showed the rubber bullets to reporters. "Police fired rubber bullets at us despite the fact we are unarmed. We never intended to assault them. They told us they would give way, so we could submit our demand. "This is what happens under the government led by Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha. Police have no backbone and opt to use violence against people. Five demonstrators were injured and many arrested,’’ she said.
The total number of arrests increased to 25 persons, 23 of whom have since been released on bail at a hefty 20,000 baht surety per head.
Disturbing footage shows the visceral intensity of the clashes between the protesters and the police armed with riot gear.
A monk can be seen entering the fray and being beaten back by a police officer:
I anticipate growing discontentment amongst the Thai people following these viral clips further stoking unrest, renewed protest efforts, and simultaneously held demonstrations in multiple cities and provinces throughout the kingdom of Thailand.
Reflecting upon the main protest sites post-2019 elections
Whenever there are serious large scale protests in Bangkok, the usual sites targeted for demonstration are the central business districts (Silom, Sathorn, vicinity of Central World Shopping Mall). Democracy monument is often a favoured location for protesters, along with Thailand Government House.
Business Continuity Planning & Warning Indicators
No doubt the big multinational companies with a headquartered presence in central Bangkok will be activating their crisis management (CMT), emergency response plan (ERP) & business continuity planning (BCP).
For all the security managers out there, I have known your pain.
Time to dust off the CMT & BCP manuals that may have been live-drilled (or more likely virtually rehearsed over MS TEAMS from 2020 - 2022, ‘because COVID’). Many companies have such plans in place for the sake of box-ticking exercises, yet when a real situation arises, panic ensues.
The company often fails to share their CMT & BCP plan with the outsourced third party security provider they use (security guarding company, using security officers, CCTV systems, alarms & other technologies for access control and visitor management). I’ve heard that many times firsthand.
Security provider: “Please could you share your ERP/CMT/BCP with us, so that we can be fully informed on management points of escalation, what constitutes an activation of the plans, how we can respond, and how we can better train our security teams who are there to protect your employees, property, and brand image.”
Client: “Don’t worry about that, our plans are very robust, but we can’t share them with you! It is sensitive data, sorry.”
Security provider: “Mr. Client, how can we be in a state of readiness and preparedness to react to a real life incident if we do not know any details of your ERP/CMT/BCP?”
Client: “Just follow your own plan, it will be fine..”
No, it won’t be fine.
Knowing and understanding the threats and risks of a physical security environment and a dynamic, unpredictable situation, is crucial for companies and their security providers to work together in partnership, lest they set themselves up for disastrous consequences.
When things go really south in Bangkok in the aftermath of protest carnage, I can guarantee you that every single company that is affected by the geographical proximity to the protest site will react the same way.
They will call their security providers and demand an extra XX number of security officers to be at their building ASAP. The providers can only send manpower on a first come first served basis. The resources are finite.
This is why the force majeure clauses in the contracts of security providers always insist on no amendments. I.e. The client accepts that in an event constituting force majeure (protest, war, natural disaster etc), the client acknowledges in advance that the security provider will not have time to send invoices to their finance team for sign-off. They will mobilise whatever resources they need to, and the client will pay for the services rendered afterwards.
Therefore, a better idea for companies finding themselves in the predicament at the stage of preparation, would be to ramp-up security manpower today, and not wait until shit hits the fan before they panic and find that there are no more officers available to send to their location.
Companies should take steps to prepare their own places of work and internal processes for managing employee expectations (this image is geared towards hospitality sector):
This is specific to Bangkok, knowing indicators of imminent widespread protest is of paramount importance, and should be communicated with all management functions within the organisation:
Responding to the protest in real-time requires clear and open communication channels between the security provider and the client:
Adapting to the most serious threat level events, whereby it is unsafe for people to leave the building, will help to preserve life, and enable business continuity - operations may continue with less hindrance than they would with zero BCP in place beforehand:
Part 3 will be forthcoming, where we shall delve into what has been pledged by various governments, and how some of the proposed trade agreements tie in with commitments made at the G20 summit…and why it is bad news for us proletariats, yet we can opt out of centralised systems and become sovereign individuals.
Stay tuned.
Edit - I’ve decided not to bother with part 3. The Apec was mostly about grandstanding and not as significant (yet) for ramifications of globalist agendas being forwarded. We can revisit this when it becomes more pressing.
Nicholas Creed is a Bangkok-based journalistic infidel impervious to propaganda. If you liked this content and wish to support the work, buy him a coffee or consider a crypto donation:
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