Thai army soldiers stand guard over blindfolded detainees during an operation to evict anti-government Red Shirt protesters from their encampment in Bangkok on Wednesday. (Damir Sagolj / Reuters)Leaders’ surrender fails to quell unrest after troops storm encampment
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
MSNBC
BANGKOK - Anti-government protest leaders in Thailand surrendered to police on Wednesday after troops stormed their encampment, sparking clashes that killed at least six people and injured 60.
As violence rocked the city, a night curfew was imposed, the first one declared in the Thai capital since 1992, when the army killed dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators seeking the ouster of a military-backed government.
On Wednesday, Thai soldiers made an early morning advance on an area occupied for more than six weeks by thousands of "red shirt" demonstrators in Bangkok's commercial heart.
As the soldiers surrounded the main protest site, top protest leaders offered to surrender as supporters urged them to fight on, with many screaming and crying as gunfire rang out nearby.
Moments later, live television showed four "red shirt" protest leaders in police custody and an army spokesman said in a television broadcast the protest site was under army control and the military had halted operations.
But that didn't stop the unrest after six days of chaotic street fighting between protesters and troops that descended into urban warfare, killing 39 people and wounded 329.
Three grenades exploded outside the main protest site. Rioting was seen in various areas across the city as protesters lit fires and burned tires. A TV station and the Stock Exchange of Thailand were among buildings reportedly set ablaze by Red Shirts. Some hotels set up wooden barricades.
Violence spreads
The unrest also spread to northeast Thailand, a red shirt stronghold, where protesters stormed a town hall complex in the city of Udon Thani, setting a building ablaze, and torched a second town hall in Khon Kaen.
Three journalists were among 50 people wounded and one Western journalist, identified as an Italian, was killed.
Troops and armored vehicles broke through the protesters' 10 foot barricades of tires and bamboo, and fired tear gas and automatic rifle-fire at the protesters.
Two bodies were found on Ratchadamri Road, which leads to the main protest site after troops followed the army vehicle into the encampment, a Reuters witness said. They appeared to have been shot. The "red shirts" fired back, witnesses said.
Urban warfare
Protesters ignited walls of tires as the troops arrived, causing thick black smoke to billow high over skyscrapers and hiding thousands of demonstrators who have occupied the heart of Bangkok's commercial district for more than six weeks.
The mostly rural and urban poor protestors broadly support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a graft-convicted populist billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup and living in self-imposed exile to avoid jail.
Thaksin raised the specter of insurrection in a telephone interview with Reuters on Wednesday. "There is a theory saying a military crackdown can spread resentment and these resentful people will become guerrillas," he said, but declined to say where he was speaking from.
He denied an accusation by a top aide of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that he was the stumbling block for failed talks between the government and the "red shirt" leaders.
The military offensive came a day after the collapse of a proposal for talks aimed at ending five days of chaotic street fighting that descended into urban warfare that killed 39 people and wounded more than 300.
Several buildings were on fire on the periphery of the protest encampment, and tires were set ablaze are various other spots in the city of 15 million people and a popular tourist destination.
As violence rocked the city, a night curfew was imposed, the first one declared in the Thai capital since 1992, when the army killed dozens of pro-democracy demonstrators seeking the ouster of a military-backed government.
On Wednesday, Thai soldiers made an early morning advance on an area occupied for more than six weeks by thousands of "red shirt" demonstrators in Bangkok's commercial heart.
As the soldiers surrounded the main protest site, top protest leaders offered to surrender as supporters urged them to fight on, with many screaming and crying as gunfire rang out nearby.
Moments later, live television showed four "red shirt" protest leaders in police custody and an army spokesman said in a television broadcast the protest site was under army control and the military had halted operations.
But that didn't stop the unrest after six days of chaotic street fighting between protesters and troops that descended into urban warfare, killing 39 people and wounded 329.
Three grenades exploded outside the main protest site. Rioting was seen in various areas across the city as protesters lit fires and burned tires. A TV station and the Stock Exchange of Thailand were among buildings reportedly set ablaze by Red Shirts. Some hotels set up wooden barricades.
Violence spreads
The unrest also spread to northeast Thailand, a red shirt stronghold, where protesters stormed a town hall complex in the city of Udon Thani, setting a building ablaze, and torched a second town hall in Khon Kaen.
Three journalists were among 50 people wounded and one Western journalist, identified as an Italian, was killed.
Troops and armored vehicles broke through the protesters' 10 foot barricades of tires and bamboo, and fired tear gas and automatic rifle-fire at the protesters.
Two bodies were found on Ratchadamri Road, which leads to the main protest site after troops followed the army vehicle into the encampment, a Reuters witness said. They appeared to have been shot. The "red shirts" fired back, witnesses said.
Urban warfare
Protesters ignited walls of tires as the troops arrived, causing thick black smoke to billow high over skyscrapers and hiding thousands of demonstrators who have occupied the heart of Bangkok's commercial district for more than six weeks.
The mostly rural and urban poor protestors broadly support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a graft-convicted populist billionaire ousted in a 2006 coup and living in self-imposed exile to avoid jail.
Thaksin raised the specter of insurrection in a telephone interview with Reuters on Wednesday. "There is a theory saying a military crackdown can spread resentment and these resentful people will become guerrillas," he said, but declined to say where he was speaking from.
He denied an accusation by a top aide of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that he was the stumbling block for failed talks between the government and the "red shirt" leaders.
The military offensive came a day after the collapse of a proposal for talks aimed at ending five days of chaotic street fighting that descended into urban warfare that killed 39 people and wounded more than 300.
Several buildings were on fire on the periphery of the protest encampment, and tires were set ablaze are various other spots in the city of 15 million people and a popular tourist destination.
6 comments:
Now the พรรคคอมมิวนิสต์แห่งประเทศไทย - พคท. and armed struggle is the only realistic solution for the red to the Thai military dictatorship .
Other provinces of red shirt supporters must get ready to fight as guerrillas war, form your own army and split the country, build up your own red army, Hanoi pupet Hun Sen will support you.
brothers and sisters thai people , please all rise up against the dictatorial government . if we all around the country rise up together the government will fall .
Thai elites,government and royal patrons are hoping that they can smooth things things after this mess,
as they did in the past. If they believe in prophecy of Thailand,they should not count on their old perception.
Message to stupid Cambodian, we are not as stupid as you to for guerrillas fighter like your stupid former king Sihanouk. We do the best for our country not destroy the country like you guys.
Thong Wadi
Amazing Thailand.
Long Live Thailand DemoCRAZY!!!
Post a Comment