By THOMAS FULLER
New York Times
BANGKOK — Troops surrounded thousands of anti-government protesters in downtown Bangkok early Tuesday after a day of running street battles that left two people dead and more than 113 people wounded.
Armored vehicles and ranks of soldiers with riot shields and automatic weapons sealed off the roads leading to the prime minister’s office, where the protesters are now concentrated.
“First we will negotiate,” Col. Seksan Kaewkumnerd, a military spokesman said on national television on Tuesday morning. “If that doesn’t work we will use water along with tear gas,” he added, in a reference to water cannons.
“I can assure you that heavy weapons such as guns will be used only to shoot in the air in case of self-defense,” the colonel said.
Major shopping malls were assessing whether to stay closed Tuesday after they shut their doors Monday, Thai media reported. Foreign governments advised their citizens in Bangkok, the capital, to stay inside and the government banned the sale of gasoline in the center of the city in an effort to stop protesters from making Molotov cocktails.
The protesters, many of them supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in the Sept. 2006 coup, are demanding that the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, step down. Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara, the supreme commander of Thailand’s armed forces, vowed Monday to use “every means to end the chaos.”
The violence on Monday came on what is normally a day of animated celebration, the New Year’s water festival. Street parties and revelry continued in some Bangkok neighborhoods untouched by the strife, but the center of the city remained tense. At least a dozen streets were barricaded by protesters, many of whom were armed with clubs and slingshots.
In a televised address on Monday, Mr. Abhisit sought to reassure the nation that the government was carrying out a “step-by-step process to restore order and stop the violence.”
He said he would “take care of the situation with the least damage possible.”
The unrest has pitted security forces against protesters known as the “red shirts,” who coalesced around their opposition to the military coup against Thaksin. But there are fears that the violence could spread if other groups become involved.
Mr. Thaksin, who lives abroad and faces a two-year prison sentence on charges of abuse of power if he returns to Thailand, said in an interview on Monday with CNN that the government was concealing “many” deaths in the clashes. “They even take the bodies on the military trucks and take them away,” he said. The government denied the assertion.
The “red shirts” are defying the government’s decree of a “severe emergency situation,” including a ban on blocking any traffic, imposed in Bangkok on Sunday, a day after protesters breached security and entered a hotel complex where Asian leaders were gathering for a summit meeting, causing the talks to be canceled. They have vowed to continue their demonstrations, which have grown increasingly violent, until Mr. Abhisit steps down.
The prime minister’s whereabouts have remained secret since Sunday, when his motorcade was attacked and an aide was dragged out of his car by protesters and reportedly beaten.
Armored vehicles and ranks of soldiers with riot shields and automatic weapons sealed off the roads leading to the prime minister’s office, where the protesters are now concentrated.
“First we will negotiate,” Col. Seksan Kaewkumnerd, a military spokesman said on national television on Tuesday morning. “If that doesn’t work we will use water along with tear gas,” he added, in a reference to water cannons.
“I can assure you that heavy weapons such as guns will be used only to shoot in the air in case of self-defense,” the colonel said.
Major shopping malls were assessing whether to stay closed Tuesday after they shut their doors Monday, Thai media reported. Foreign governments advised their citizens in Bangkok, the capital, to stay inside and the government banned the sale of gasoline in the center of the city in an effort to stop protesters from making Molotov cocktails.
The protesters, many of them supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in the Sept. 2006 coup, are demanding that the current prime minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, step down. Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara, the supreme commander of Thailand’s armed forces, vowed Monday to use “every means to end the chaos.”
The violence on Monday came on what is normally a day of animated celebration, the New Year’s water festival. Street parties and revelry continued in some Bangkok neighborhoods untouched by the strife, but the center of the city remained tense. At least a dozen streets were barricaded by protesters, many of whom were armed with clubs and slingshots.
In a televised address on Monday, Mr. Abhisit sought to reassure the nation that the government was carrying out a “step-by-step process to restore order and stop the violence.”
He said he would “take care of the situation with the least damage possible.”
The unrest has pitted security forces against protesters known as the “red shirts,” who coalesced around their opposition to the military coup against Thaksin. But there are fears that the violence could spread if other groups become involved.
Mr. Thaksin, who lives abroad and faces a two-year prison sentence on charges of abuse of power if he returns to Thailand, said in an interview on Monday with CNN that the government was concealing “many” deaths in the clashes. “They even take the bodies on the military trucks and take them away,” he said. The government denied the assertion.
The “red shirts” are defying the government’s decree of a “severe emergency situation,” including a ban on blocking any traffic, imposed in Bangkok on Sunday, a day after protesters breached security and entered a hotel complex where Asian leaders were gathering for a summit meeting, causing the talks to be canceled. They have vowed to continue their demonstrations, which have grown increasingly violent, until Mr. Abhisit steps down.
The prime minister’s whereabouts have remained secret since Sunday, when his motorcade was attacked and an aide was dragged out of his car by protesters and reportedly beaten.
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