April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Thai security forces stopped anti-government protesters from rallying north of the capital in clashes that killed one soldier, raising tensions in a seven- week standoff that has paralyzed Bangkok’s commercial center.
One soldier was shot dead and two were injured in the skirmish, police official Worapong Chiewprecha said in a televised briefing last night. Seventeen protesters were also wounded after authorities opened fire to prevent a convoy of about 5,000 people from traveling to a fresh-food market north of Bangkok, he said.
The incident may add pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to scatter demonstrators who have disrupted businesses and irked residents by occupying a district since April 3. The country’s worst political violence in 18 years has now resulted in the deaths of 27 people this month.
“The situation has been aggravated to the point where the government has to do something, either disperse them or negotiate,” said Somjai Phagaphasvivat, a lecturer at Bangkok’s Thammasat University. “The protesters are on the defensive and they know the cost of resistance is getting higher every day.”
Thailand’s SET index fell 1.6 percent as overseas investors posted their biggest net selling in five months, making it Asia’s second-worst performer in April after the benchmark in Shanghai. Thai stocks have risen 2 percent for the year compared with a 4.1 percent gain for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Bag of Grenades
Security forces arrested 14 protesters and found a bag with 62 M-79 grenades left by another demonstrator who escaped, Anon Jarayapan, an air force commander, said in a televised broadcast. The clash showed the government’s aim “to control any law- breaking,” spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters.
Authorities ordered the closure of roads around the main protest site to isolate the group, the Bangkok Post reported, citing unidentified officials. Police will stop people and weapons from getting to the site, though supplies will be allowed to pass, the newspaper said.
A grenade attack last week on an elevated train line station next to the protest site left one person dead, and 25 died in an army crackdown on April 10. The government and protesters blame each other for the casualties.
Soldiers carrying rifles were stationed yesterday on Silom and Sukhumvit roads, Bangkok business arteries that connect with the cordoned-off protest site. Water cannon trucks and riot police are also positioned in the area.
Protest leader Nattawut Saikuar said fellow troops shot the soldier who died yesterday, citing reports from CNN and BBC. Three demonstrators were wounded with real bullets, he said.
Army Probe
The army is investigating the cause of the soldier’s death, spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters.
“Soldiers and policemen have flesh and blood,” he said. “When protesters use weapons against them, they have to protect themselves.”
The protesters mostly back fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. They say Abhisit’s rule is illegitimate because his party finished second in the last election and took power in a parliamentary vote after a court disbanded the ruling pro-Thaksin party for election fraud.
The demonstrators, concerned about a military offensive after yesterday’s clashes, poured gasoline over one of the barricades of bamboo sticks and tires erected around their protest site, an area roughly the size of New York’s Central Park. Protesters manning the makeshift walls aimed slingshots at people taking photographs.
Abhisit has asserted the right to complete his term, which expires at the end of next year. He has called for political talks that include all parties and said the government will fight “terrorists” who hide among the demonstrators.
Thaksin has seen parties linked to him win the past four elections on heavy support from rural northern areas. Abhisit’s Democrat party hasn’t won a nationwide vote since 1992.
--With assistance from Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok. Editors: Patrick Harrington, Paul Tighe
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok at ssuwannakij@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tony Jordan at tjordan3@bloomberg.net
One soldier was shot dead and two were injured in the skirmish, police official Worapong Chiewprecha said in a televised briefing last night. Seventeen protesters were also wounded after authorities opened fire to prevent a convoy of about 5,000 people from traveling to a fresh-food market north of Bangkok, he said.
The incident may add pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to scatter demonstrators who have disrupted businesses and irked residents by occupying a district since April 3. The country’s worst political violence in 18 years has now resulted in the deaths of 27 people this month.
“The situation has been aggravated to the point where the government has to do something, either disperse them or negotiate,” said Somjai Phagaphasvivat, a lecturer at Bangkok’s Thammasat University. “The protesters are on the defensive and they know the cost of resistance is getting higher every day.”
Thailand’s SET index fell 1.6 percent as overseas investors posted their biggest net selling in five months, making it Asia’s second-worst performer in April after the benchmark in Shanghai. Thai stocks have risen 2 percent for the year compared with a 4.1 percent gain for the MSCI Asia Pacific Index.
Bag of Grenades
Security forces arrested 14 protesters and found a bag with 62 M-79 grenades left by another demonstrator who escaped, Anon Jarayapan, an air force commander, said in a televised broadcast. The clash showed the government’s aim “to control any law- breaking,” spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told reporters.
Authorities ordered the closure of roads around the main protest site to isolate the group, the Bangkok Post reported, citing unidentified officials. Police will stop people and weapons from getting to the site, though supplies will be allowed to pass, the newspaper said.
A grenade attack last week on an elevated train line station next to the protest site left one person dead, and 25 died in an army crackdown on April 10. The government and protesters blame each other for the casualties.
Soldiers carrying rifles were stationed yesterday on Silom and Sukhumvit roads, Bangkok business arteries that connect with the cordoned-off protest site. Water cannon trucks and riot police are also positioned in the area.
Protest leader Nattawut Saikuar said fellow troops shot the soldier who died yesterday, citing reports from CNN and BBC. Three demonstrators were wounded with real bullets, he said.
Army Probe
The army is investigating the cause of the soldier’s death, spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd told reporters.
“Soldiers and policemen have flesh and blood,” he said. “When protesters use weapons against them, they have to protect themselves.”
The protesters mostly back fugitive ex-leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup. They say Abhisit’s rule is illegitimate because his party finished second in the last election and took power in a parliamentary vote after a court disbanded the ruling pro-Thaksin party for election fraud.
The demonstrators, concerned about a military offensive after yesterday’s clashes, poured gasoline over one of the barricades of bamboo sticks and tires erected around their protest site, an area roughly the size of New York’s Central Park. Protesters manning the makeshift walls aimed slingshots at people taking photographs.
Abhisit has asserted the right to complete his term, which expires at the end of next year. He has called for political talks that include all parties and said the government will fight “terrorists” who hide among the demonstrators.
Thaksin has seen parties linked to him win the past four elections on heavy support from rural northern areas. Abhisit’s Democrat party hasn’t won a nationwide vote since 1992.
--With assistance from Suttinee Yuvejwattana and Anuchit Nguyen in Bangkok. Editors: Patrick Harrington, Paul Tighe
To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok at ssuwannakij@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Tony Jordan at tjordan3@bloomberg.net
