ScouseTommy

Thai troops open fire in standoff with protesters

by Patrick Falby

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thai troops opened fire on the streets of Bangkok on Friday as they ramped up pressure on "Red Shirt" protesters to give up their campaign to topple the government after a two month standoff.

Volleys of gunfire sent residents fleeing in panic near the Suan Lum Night Bazaar, popular with tourists, while protesters set fire to an empty police bus and vandalised army vehicles and water cannon.

Two journalists, one of them a Canadian with the France 24 television channel and the other a Thai photographer, were shot and wounded. Their conditions were not known.

Troops were seen repeatedly firing into Lumpini Park, close to the Red Shirts' sprawling encampment, which has been fortified with razor wire, truck tyres doused with kerosene and sharpened bamboo poles.

It was not clear if the troops were firing live ammunition, but the army has warned in the past it would use lethal force against "terrorist" elements.

A line of about 100 soldiers carrying assault rifles was seen near the park, according to an AFP reporter. Three Red Shirts were seen being detained by the security forces.

Army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said there were about 2,000 Red Shirt protesters in the area and that the order was given Friday morning to disperse them after they had "intimidated authorities with weapons".

Defence Minister General Prawit Wongsuwon said the operation was meant to force the movement's leaders back to talks with the government.

"The military operation aims to put pressure on the Red Shirts to come back to the negotiating table," Prawit told AFP.

An army spokesman, however, said the military had no plan to force protesters out of their main fortified rally site on Friday.

Around the wider protest area, which extends for several square kilometres (miles), soldiers blocked roads and set up checkpoints to seal off the area.

"The total seal-off measure took place since yesterday evening," said Sunsern, adding that the electricity company had cut off the power to part of the capital.

As part of the operation, some of Bangkok's commuter rail system was shut, including a section through the key tourist area of Sukhumvit Road.

The army had warned Thursday it would deploy snipers around the Reds' protest site and use armoured vehicles to prevent more demonstrators joining thousands who have occupied a large area of central Bangkok for two months.

The army's decision followed the shooting late Thursday of renegade Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, a high-profile Reds supporter, who had been accused of trying to stymie government moves to reconcile with the protesters.

He was unconscious in the intensive care unit of Vahira hospital with a "low" chance of survival from a head wound, said Chaiwan Charoenchokethavee, the hospital director.

Another demonstrator died after being shot in the head in clashes with security forces Thursday night. Eleven others were wounded.

Core Red leaders had publicly distanced themselves from Khattiya, known by his followers as Seh Daeng, but after his shooting one top protester vowed there would be no surrender.

"If you think the shooting of Seh Daeng will scare leaders and make them not dare to take the stage, you are wrong," one of the protest leaders, Jatuporn Prompan, said at the rally site. "We will not leave here as losers."

The army denied involvement in the shooting as protesters dug in.

The fresh violence came after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva shelved a plan to hold early elections in November and hopes faded for a resolution to the crippling political crisis.

The mostly poor and working class Reds, who launched their campaign in mid-March for immediate elections, initially agreed to enter the peace process but efforts to reach a deal that would see them go home eventually broke down.

The Reds consider the government illegitimate because it came to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote after a court ruling ousted elected allies of their hero, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was unseated in a 2006 coup.

Bracing for further possible unrest, the government on Thursday extended a state of emergency to 15 more provinces. Almost one-third of the country including Bangkok is now under emergency rule.

At least 30 people have been killed and about 1,000 injured in Bangkok in a series of confrontations and attacks since the protests began -- Thailand's worst political violence in almost two decades.

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-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-05-14

Published with written approval from AFP.

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School cancelled today, kids to scared to come in!! Business is at a standstill. Whilst the reds are here who is looking after their crops and their families???? Sukhumvit is not a nice place to be at the moment been through twice today and i would describe it as very tense, and potentially chaotic. This should have been dealt with weeks ago! I am all for getting rid of the hardcore reds, they are little more than terrorists, angling for the best deal. But i feel for the people they have duped with their rhetoric!! I can only see this going horribly wrong and leading to bloodshed on a large scale, which is sad because i do love this country!!! No end in sight!

ive done Krabi to singapore before its fairly straight forward. Go to any travel agency and buy a coach to Kuala Lumpur, over night there and then get the train direct to singapore. Long trip but fairly straight forward. If you goggle KL to singapore there are loads of info and time tables!!

im not a fan of the reds, but when did they say they would disband the monarchy?????? biased reporting i think!

Nahhhhh - just mix all that confiscated viagra into the water being delivered to the red camp - wait twenty four hours then go in and march them out just like Noah - two by two

Seriously though, my feeling is that Abhisit has the wrong portion of the army on the streets - he's using infantry, what he needs is the field engineers with their heavy equipment for removing obstructions and clearing terrain.

Just roll forward with side by side bulldozers, dirt-blades lowered, backed up by airfield fire trucks firing water cannons over the bulldozers without let up - it'd wash the less staunch protesters away from the contact lines, and the die-hards would have the choice to move or die ..... thing is, the bulldozers would be pushing so much barricade rubble in front of them, the die-hards wouldn't get within 10 metres of the dirt blade, so it all becomes nominally a use of non-lethal force (protesters hurt by their own bamboo, not army equipment). Heck the firetrucks could even spray fire fighting foam instead of water - that would really disorganise the hordes. Water from water cannon makes it too much like Songkran - and that of course is sanook, not a serious measure.

Other non-lethal weaponry can be deployed and used prior to the move-in by the authorities. For example,

Forget tear gas (more correctly called CS-gas) it's not effective against these sorts of hard core protesters. Use pepper bombs instead.

Soak the streets with water, and add non-lethal electrical charges - stop them from sitting or lying down. Deny them rest and exhaust them.

Begin building the barricades to deny egress to side sois and pedestrian alley ways - build a "cattle channel" to herd them all into somewhere like Lumpini or Sanam Luang, with holding pens and segregation areas erected there, so authorities can filter out the "red guards" and leaders - deny them the opportunity to slink off quietly once the troops go in.

There is so much the government and army could be doing to show they're serious and to demoralise / disrupt the reds, which would encourage defection from their camp, but I haven't seen any evidence of any such measures being enacted. There's too much "wait and see" and not enough "prepare and forewarn" from the government to the protesters. They need to see physical activity warning them of what's coming before any verbal warnings will have effect.

Abhisit seems to be taking the measures that Thatcher used against the coal miners in the UK in the 1970s, and I don't believe that will work in this situation. He needs to get creative and bring unrelenting psychological pressure against the rank and file, so they leave of their own accord before the showdown with the hard-core and leaders.

Nice idea and i know where your coming from, but do you remember Tiananamen square????? The hardcore would not move and would therefore be run down the repurcusions of that particular act still reverberate today. If that happened in Thailand there would be civil war imho

What a joke

Someone using some dubious photos to scam the Red shirts ???

We can see for the first man in the black carry a M16 or Carbine with a Silencer Attached ! That means he's firing Blanks !

If you want to scam someone pls do your homework first

Sorry but i'm ex army and you are wrong. A silencer has nothing to do with the ammunition in your weapon. If you are firing blanks you attach a BFA or blank firing attachment this is a bulky block of steel that screws directly into the barrel of the weapon and would be clearly visible. It is not in this picture! If you dont believe me then google it!!

Hi, just a quick one. I have competed my TEFl and extra specialist certificate in teaching elementary level and young learners. I keep seeing contradictory messages on various forums. Some say i would be in demand, some say most of the jobs in BKK are gone. Some are saying because i dont have a degree i will be paid substantially less than other farang teachers. What is the current situation? Also what sort of support structures are available for new teachers, who actually WANT to teach as opposed to funding some travelling?

Thanks

Typical i finally sort out my job and flight and arrive in Bangkok on 26/04 and theres a state of emergency declared Thaksins got a lot to answer for!!!

Just a quick one to throw a spanner in the works!!! For fellow brits out there, the CRB is going to be redundant sometime around June or July. Apparently they are bringing in a new system called ISA. This will be a number issued to you personally after full checks are made. You then give it to a potential employer and they can check it in seconds off a database. I have no idea how this would work for thailand!!!

Lol I think calling a fire cracker a bomb, no matter what the exact dictionary definition is, is a bit naive. However a better description (and yes i am ex-miliatary, and experienced) is an IED or improvised explosive device. The size of the IED doesnt matter. They are made to either Kill, Maim or cause disruption. Either way (and this is just my opinion, from experience) they are wrong. No matter what the intent they have the ability to cause the first two outcomes i mentioned and in any country on earth thats wrong. This will hurt the economy , so i guess they are making their point!!

Hi, I am moving to Thailand in less than a month. I will be teaching English in Bangkok. Due to the new rules when my initial visa runs out, and whilst waiting for my work visa i will have to make numerous runs to Cambodia to renew (not too hard, but not fun!). Could you tell me how the 90 day visa works, and any hints or tips you may have?

Thanks