Thai Forces Use Tear Gas, Water Cannon Against Protesters

[granuaile]

Pro democracy demonstrators in pickups are pouring down Sukhumvit past Phra Khanong now.

Clearly there are many ordinary people prepared to risk their lives in the battle against racism and fascism!

Great, it's about time the yellow shirts turned up!!

The reds should be very grateful that the military has shown so much restraint. It could have been an absolute blood bath.

I'll cheer the yellows if they did... Maybe the yellow shirts should use these same tactics... ummm I forget they don't have a corrupt millionaire supporting them. If the government concedes to the red, Vietnam, China, and Indonesia are looking good to me...

[ballpoint]

This all ain't worth it, people dying for what?? Not for what they want but for what there " leaders " have in mind, especially T.

Accept earlier ( 9 months ) elections and go home. Win some, lose some on both sides, but at least everybody stays alive.

Sad, very very sad.

May the heroes rest in peace. I am thankful for their sacrifice.

Just when it looked like things couldn't get any lower than the red leaders and their followers in this forum gleefully parading the dead around, both literally and figuratively, in a sickening propaganda stunt, we now have posters thanking the dead for having died. What a disgusting post.

[elcent]

They must declare curfew and open it for a couple of hours during the day time tomorrow and impose it again tomorrow evenin, to clear up pockets of radical hardcore reds. If necessary those radical reds who live in Bangkok could also be sent to a holding place to interrogate details.

There's no other solution at this moment.

[elcent]

I also read of many foreigners in foreign forums in prestigious online news that they are going to leave Bangkok within the next three days.

[Carib]

This all ain't worth it, people dying for what?? Not for what they want but for what there " leaders " have in mind, especially T.

Accept earlier ( 9 months ) elections and go home. Win some, lose some on both sides, but at least everybody stays alive.

Sad, very very sad.

May the heroes rest in peace. I am thankful for their sacrifice.

Don't be an ass, the people from isarn will not benefit from all this, just the happy few who are just using them as cannonfudder right now.

[granuaile]

This all ain't worth it, people dying for what?? Not for what they want but for what there " leaders " have in mind, especially T.

Accept earlier ( 9 months ) elections and go home. Win some, lose some on both sides, but at least everybody stays alive.

Sad, very very sad.

May the heroes rest in peace. I am thankful for their sacrifice.

Just when it looked like things couldn't get any lower than the red leaders and their followers in this forum gleefully parading the dead around, both literally and figuratively, in a sickening propaganda stunt, we now have posters thanking the dead for having died. What a disgusting post.

Maybe it's time the military put an end to this and just staged another coup. When the U.S, and other Western nations criticize it, thye should say what that foreign tourist said to the soldier. Since around 2005 has there been more stability than following the 2006 coup? Some seem to think military coups are automatically bad. I don't.

[Morch]

I'm watching channel 9 and just saw the Red fighters' wounded with their RUBBER BULLET "wounds" which are little red circular bruises (tomorrow they will be bigger purple bruises) acting like they are dying and being rushed to the hospital in great dramatic fashion. We can predict the Red leaders will be talking about police and military brutality using the numbers of people shot to illustrate their propaganda .... and probably some reporters or wire services will pick it up. THis is how the truth gets skewed ... and Thaksin's PR machine is masterful at this.

Just to clarify - "rubber bullet" is a bit misleading. It's basically metal coated by rubber, not rubber-only. Shot at close range, at vital organs etc. - can easily cause lethal wounds, even instant death.

Most of the wounds shown on TV reports today were indeed of the mild sort. However, soldiers were shooting indiscriminately and at close range, so some serious injuries are to be expected. Usually there a short special training involved before being authorized to shoot those, doubt if a lot of the soldiers had it.

BTW, there are two separate reports of dead/fatally injured demonstrators (one shot in the gut, the other clubbed).

SOME rubber bullets are metal coated by rubber and these have been made infamous by the Israeli defense forces. But also SOME rubber bullets are rubber only. There are also rubber 'baton' rounds that are often called rubber bullets. And yes of course they can be lethal at close range (like less than 12 feet). The point is they are not normally considered lethal.

I think to clarify exactly what kind of rubber bullets the Thai military and police are using we should get one and take a look at it. Do you agree?

Lots of international controversy about rubber bullets and also lots of protests against their usage but mainly because some police forces use them against unarmed civilians in peaceful protests. This was not the case today as is easy to see from the video.

I did not witness the shootings tonight. But this afternoon I did not see Thai soldiers firing at protestors at close range. If you look at the video you won't see this either. But if someone was trying to stab me in the neck with a bamboo spear, I may lose control and shoot my rubber bullet at them despite their being closer than 12 feet. But again I did not see that. Those soldiers and military who were in the front lines were mostly unarmed. THose shooting the rubber bullets were not in the front lines in those hand to hand struggles with the protestors. I don't believe that there will be ANY lethal injuries from rubber bullets in the confrontations that happened today. If there are lethal injuries they will be from real copper and lead bullets.

Those with head injuries were obviously hit by police/military batons (clubs) which means they were within arms reach of the military/police lines when they were pushing and shoving and swinging at each other ... and well ... what do they expect? I guess better to be hit on the head with a baton that shot with a rubber bullet at that close range (and I don't believe any were).

As far as I recall the ones they used in the past (for example, on PAD demonstrators) were of the nastier sort. Those cab be lethal at under 40-50 yards easy. Some of the shooting was at very close range, and quite a lot of it panicky and ineffective. Standard practice is to aim at lower body parts in order to minimize injuries - can't say a lot of that was evident.

As for soldiers losing control....yeah, well - they're not exactly the best trained or experienced. Getting into a situation where someone is in a position to impale you with a spear is definitely a problem.

From the footage I've seen on TV indeed not all soldiers were armed (would guess mostly NCOs and officers). For sure, some were also carrying "hot" weapons (not just rubber). Wouldn't be surprised if we found out some messed up. But still, rubber bullets can do some bad things to the human body, and they were all over the place today. So no big surprises there as well.

At the end, don't think it matters much to the wounded....

[WinnieTheKhwai]

They must declare curfew and open it for a couple of hours during the day time tomorrow and impose it again tomorrow evenin, to clear up pockets of radical hardcore reds. If necessary those radical reds who live in Bangkok could also be sent to a holding place to interrogate details.

There's no other solution at this moment.

Dissolve parliament and have elections would be a good solution. Abhisit had a clear opportunity to prevent all this, and didn't. Blood is on his hands now.

[neverdie]

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Edited April 10, 2010 by neverdie

[neverdie]

I just read on the TV update that a foreign tourist was shot in the chest (rubber bullet?) after saying "f*** you"" to a soldier. How stupid and arrogant can you get...

Nothing would surprise me, given what some fools have said on this forum.

[seahorse]

Thaksin had a clear opportunity to prevent all this, and didn't. Blood is on his hands now.

Fixed your post.

[retdson]

If you fire a gun upwards the bullets coming down will not have enough force to be lethal.

With all due respect, you obviously don't know much about small arms ballistics..

[elcent]

They've established he's not a sniper, or a fake guard. His relief: palpable. (Real) red guards probably saved this man from a lynching.

4 minutes ago via mobile web

Reply Retweet

The reds say he's a sniper. Sounded like he was talking for his life. But now a red medic dressing his wounds.

9 minutes ago via mobile web

Man in civilian clothes, badly beaten, brought before red leader Somchai. One man punches him, another kicks him.

12 minutes ago via mobile web

It's time to bring it to an end.

[balo]

Is it safe to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday ?

Edited April 10, 2010 by balo

[granuaile]

They must declare curfew and open it for a couple of hours during the day time tomorrow and impose it again tomorrow evenin, to clear up pockets of radical hardcore reds. If necessary those radical reds who live in Bangkok could also be sent to a holding place to interrogate details.

There's no other solution at this moment.

Dissolve parliament and have elections would be a good solution. Abhisit had a clear opportunity to prevent all this, and didn't. Blood is on his hands now.

No. The blood is on the hands of those who first used grenades (from the beginning of this) and tonight used grenades and real bullets against essentially unarmed soldiers....

[elcent]

Is it safe to arrive Bangkok on Tuesday ?

NO! It will escalate and will spread to other areas, even to he whole of the nation.

It looks as if the army and police will not be able to control unless they resort to harsher measures.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Is it safe to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday ?

It's safe to arrive, and it's safe to immediately get a connecting flight out of that pit. Find a beach or a mountain.. Songkran is on, so the North will be partying no matter what.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

Is it safe to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday ?

It's safe to arrive, and it's safe to immediately get a connecting flight out of that pit. Find a beach or a mountain.. Songkran is on, so the North will be partying no matter what.

[chadintheusa]

The reds wanted a fight and got one, if they don't back down now and negotiate the police will have to use real bullets and defend themselves.

[Rideau]

I believe Thaksin and his Red leaders will finally lose because Red Shirts would turn against him once the dust settled and they start to realize being used. Truth always prevails.

[Old Man River]

Is it safe to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday ?

Its best to postpone your trip.

[TITI1971]

The reds wanted a fight and got one, if they don't back down now and negotiate the police will have to use real bullets and defend themselves.

I still don't understand when the people said "reds wanted fight..." 1 month without no violence and just when you give power to army and they decide to "clean" Bangkok from demonstrators...so they charge the manifest and let's go to violence... both side...

It's Abbhisit wanted this, not the reds... If Abbhisit can show Reds are violent so he can say it's not his fault... BUT WE SPEAK OF DEAD PEOPLES TODAY ! Including 1 reporter not Thai ! No winner at all, specially not Abbhisit ! And not Thai country in the foreigner news... I love Thai peoples...Thai country, but definitly not the politics...

[roamer]

Is it safe to arrive in Bangkok on Tuesday ?

Actually if you can read what has been going on here and still ask a question like that......the answer has to be No, for you at least its not safe.

[granuaile]

Is it better to have a "corrupted" person or a murderer as PM?

Abhisit stop hiding and step down, last year You have killed over 100

person, today six.....

Abhisit is no murderer, the blood today is on the hands of Arisman, Jutaporn, Veera, and Thaksin.... Stand firm Abhisit....

Perhaps he should use the same tactics as the redshirts...

[chadintheusa]

The reds wanted a fight and got one, if they don't back down now and negotiate the police will have to use real bullets and defend themselves.

I still don't understand when the people said "reds wanted fight..." 1 month without no violence and just when you give power to army and they decide to "clean" Bangkok from demonstrators...so they charge the manifest and let's go to violence... both side...

It's Abbhisit wanted this, not the reds... If Abbhisit can show Reds are violent so he can say it's not his fault... BUT WE SPEAK OF DEAD PEOPLES TODAY ! Including 1 reporter not Thai ! No winner at all, specially not Abbhisit ! And not Thai country in the foreigner news... I love Thai peoples...Thai country, but definitly not the politics...

Firing grenades and storming buildings qualify as violence. How can you not grasp that. There has been violence since the beginning of the protest. Don't sit back and claim to be all innocent when this situation has been put in motion by the reds.

[WinnieTheKhwai]

> the police will have to use real bullets and defend themselves.

I've seen some pretty sick pictures just now. They HAVE used real bullets. Go look it up, but be warned, it's disgusting.

[lannarebirth]

This all ain't worth it, people dying for what?? Not for what they want but for what there " leaders " have in mind, especially T.

Accept earlier ( 9 months ) elections and go home. Win some, lose some on both sides, but at least everybody stays alive.

Sad, very very sad.

May the heroes rest in peace. I am thankful for their sacrifice.

Just when it looked like things couldn't get any lower than the red leaders and their followers in this forum gleefully parading the dead around, both literally and figuratively, in a sickening propaganda stunt, we now have posters thanking the dead for having died. What a disgusting post.

Again, I'd like to remind posters of the ignore function. No longer will you be reading his bloodthirsty, inflammatory smug remarks. The key however is that the ignore function doesn't seen to work when others respond. TV needs to work on that.

Edited April 10, 2010 by lannarebirth

[granuaile]

> the police will have to use real bullets and defend themselves.

I've seen some pretty sick pictures just now. They HAVE used real bullets. Go look it up, but be warned, it's disgusting.

Arisman and Jutaporn wanted war (probably Thaksin too),... now they may have it. And when the military takes off the kid gloves the redshirts won't have a chance.... and we know who the first to use real bullets were....

[elcent]

http://www.free-thaitv.com/free-thai-tv-11-nbt-online.htm seem to be down

[elcent]

now Abhisit just started talking