Bangkok Red-Shirt Rally - Live Saturday

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Saturday May 15 Red-Shirt rally live updates

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Related topic: Bangkok Red-Shirt Rally - Live Friday

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Seven dead, 100 injured in Bangkok violence

by Patrick Falby

BANGKOK (AFP) -- Thai troops opened fire on protesters Friday after a military lockdown of their vast rally site in the heart of the capital sparked fierce clashes that left seven people dead and more than 100 wounded.

Security forces moved to regain control of a road close to the Suan Lum night bazaar, a popular spot with tourists, after "Red Shirt" demonstrators spilled out of their fortified rally base, which was under siege by troops.

The protesters, who are trying to bring down the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, threw stones, used slingshots and launched fireworks at the troops as the two-month standoff descended into more violence.

As night fell, gunfire continued to ring out close to the protest site, which was still occupied by thousands of demonstrators. Several blasts were heard in the nearby financial district but the cause was unclear.

Six men and one woman, all civilians, were killed in the violence, which also left 101 people injured, including three foreigners, according to the official Erawan emergency centre.

Three journalists, one of them a Canadian with the France 24 television channel, were shot and wounded while covering the unrest.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said security troops had come under attack as they moved to seal off the rally area late Thursday to prevent more Red Shirts from entering.

"The soldiers... had no choice but to respond to these attacks," Panitan told a news conference, adding that troops were authorised to use live ammunition in self-defence, for warning shots or against armed gunmen.

Troops would step up security measures in the coming days to search for weapons and reduce the number of people entering the area, he said, warning of the risk of more instability in the capital.

Soldiers used tear gas Friday against the demonstrators, who set fire to piles of tyres in the road, torched an empty police bus and vandalised army vehicles in their efforts to disrupt the lockdown.

At one point troops fired directly at protesters and then advanced up a road, shooting into the air, according to an AFP reporter.

Nelson Rand, a reporter who was covering fighting between troops and protesters for France 24, was hit by three bullets from a military assault rifle and "gravely wounded", his network reported.

At least 37 people have been killed and about 1,000 injured in Bangkok in a series of confrontations and attacks since the protests began in mid-March.

The mood was tense inside the demonstrators' encampment, which has been fortified with razor wire, truck tyres doused with kerosene and sharpened bamboo poles.

"Abhisit has already started civil war," top Red Shirt Nattawut Saikuar told reporters.

"We urgently demand the government withdraw the military and stop all violence," he said. "I don't know how we can survive tonight if Abhisit does not agree to a ceasefire. We hope that Abhisit does not want war."

The Reds consider Abhisit's 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.

Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail term at home for corruption, called on the government to pull back troops and restart negotiations with the demonstrators.

"The government's actions clearly constitute grave infringement of human rights and criminal offences," Thaksin said in a statement.

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

A renegade general allied with the Reds was fighting for his life after being shot late Thursday close to the protest site. His supporters said he was targeted by a sniper.

The army, which had warned Thursday it would deploy snipers around the Reds' protest site, denied any involvement in the shooting of Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, better known by his nickname "Seh Daeng".

Khattiya, who had been accused of trying to block government moves to reconcile with the protesters, was unconscious in the intensive care unit of Vahira hospital with a head wound.

He had a "low" chance of survival, said Chaiwan Charoenchokethavee, the hospital director.

The violence came after Abhisit scrapped a plan to hold November elections as peace efforts broke down, with the Reds demanding the deputy premier be charged for his role in overseeing an April 10 crackdown in which 25 people died, including a Japanese cameraman.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-05-15

Published with written approval from AFP.

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CRES adjusts tactics, cancelling all advance announcements

The Centre for Resolution of Emergency Situation said it will cancel all advance announcements ahead of its operations.

The CRES also expects that there are some 500 armed red-shirt guards, battling troops.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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@Dany_k Areas to avoid tonight: Din Daeng & Bon Kai. Reds are armed well there according to reporters at the area.

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Chronology

12.12pm: Five thousand troops start blockading Suan Lum Night Bazaar and fire tear gas. Gunshots are heard shortly afterwards.

12.15pm: Soldiers fire tear gas to reclaim the area near Suan Lum Night Bazaar that was occupied by the red shirts on Thursday night. Protesters try to besiege the troops inside the night market, and smoke is spotted coming out from inside Lumpini Park.

12.30pm: The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration rejects police request for city officials to drag away a police truck set ablaze by protesters at Sala Daeng intersection, saying its officials would be under threat from the gunfire exchange.

1pm: Protesters burn car tyres opposite the Lumpini Boxing Stadium, about 100 metres from the Thai-Belgian Bridge. Sporadic gunfire is heard. A clash between security forces and protesters kills one man and injures 20 others, three of whom are journalists.

1.30pm: Protesters outside the boxing stadium attack security forces with slingshots and petrol bombs, while soldiers respond by firing several rounds in the air, followed by teargas and rubber bullets. Twenty protesters are arrested.

1.50pm: Protest leader Jatuporn Promphan announces on stage that the situation could lead to civil war.

2.30pm: Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation, tells the press that government forces have secured the area around the Thai-Belgian Bridge and set up road barricades on Wireless Road.

3pm: Reinforcements of troops are sent to guard Government House.

3.20pm: Troops and red shirts clash at Rajprarop intersection and there is noise of gunshots. Protesters retreat to the Pratunam intersection.

4.20pm: Red-shirt leader Natthawut Saikua calls on the government to order troop withdrawal and rescind the emergency decree.

4.25pm: Residents of Rajprarop Soi 4 and Soi 6 try to boo away red-shirt protesters, who are armed with petrol bombs and looking to confront soldiers.

4.30pm: Ruam Katanyu Foundation worker Sarayut Amphan is accidentally shot in the arm during a clash in Soi Ngam Duphli.

4.50pm: Protesters throw burning tyres from the Sala Daeng overpass at soldiers waiting at the foot of the bridge. Noise of gunshots and firecrackers is heard from the protesters' side, while soldiers fire into the air periodically.

5pm: There is a confrontation between both sides near Dusit Thani Hotel and the Thai-Belgian overpass. Burning tyres cover the area with smoke.

6pm: Two grenades, believed to have been launched using an M-79 grenade launcher, explode in Soi Sala Daeng and in front of the Dusit Thani Hotel. There are no reports of injuries.

6.20pm: Explosion is heard at the red-shirts' stage on Rajprasong intersection, as speakers jump down and tell protesters to duck. No injuries or deaths are reported and the cause of the explosion remains unknown.

6.40pm: An armoured vehicle moves into Sala Daeng intersection from Wireless Road. Protesters throw bottles, petrol bombs and lit firecrackers at troops.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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FIGHTING RAGES

Seven killed and more than 100 injured in clashes between troops and protesters; Their Majesties to bear medical costs of the injured, and financial aid to relatives of those killed

At least seven people were killed and more than 100 others injured as troops battled red-shirt protesters around the Rajprasong rally site in the most violent day since the April 10 bloodbath.

Despite the insistence of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES) that the general situation was under control, gunfires and explosions were still heard last night at the Bon Kai area. Tyres were burning along the Ratchaprarop Road, which leads to the red shirts' rally stage. Bonfires were also started on Sathorn Road.

The CRES reported four deaths earlier in the evening, but the Erawan Centre of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration later said seven people had been killed and 101 others injured. The toll was expected to climb.

Their Majesties the King and Queen offered to cover the medical costs of people injured in yesterday's clashes between security forces and the red-shirt protesters, and financial aid to the relatives of those killed.

Several grenades fired from M79 launchers hit the Ratchaprarop, Bon Kai and Sala Daeng areas. Rumours abounded last night that the red shirts' militant wing, which is loyal to Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, who was shot and critically injured by a sniper on Thursday, would run amok in vengeance.

Key clashes took place in front of the Lumpini Night Bazaar in the afternoon as troops sought to edge closer to the red fortress and reclaim some strategic areas seized earlier. Four people were reportedly killed as a result of the battles in this key area.

The Rama IV Road was sealed off, making it an eerie space marred by black smoke from burning tyres and occupied by troops and angry, belligerent protesters.

Later, protesters fought troops moving up from the northern side of Rajprasong. Clashes on the Ratchaprarop Road were more intense due to the narrower space, and continued until the evening.

Earlier in the evening, three or four M79-triggered explosions were reported at Sala Daeng in areas near the Silom BTS station, which had been the target of an M79 attack several days ago that killed one and injured several pro-government protesters. No injuries were reported in this latest incident.

Among those wounded were two Thai journalists and a Canadian reporter, who was in a serious condition but was expected to survive. Nelson Rand, who was working for France 24 news channel, was hit by three bullets, the channel reported. One bullet hit his leg, another his abdomen, and the third hit his wrist. Before joining the French news outlet, he had worked for some time as a subeditor at The Nation.

Yesterday's violence would further cripple the country's tourism industry as it unfolded near several foreign embassies, including those of the US and Japan, which were forced to close. The British, New Zealand and the Dutch embassies, which are in the vicinity, also were shut.

Ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra issued a statement in the afternoon through his lawyer Noppadon Pattama calling for an immediate end to the use of force, revocation of the state of emergency and resumption of peace efforts.

There were also loud bangs in the evening near the red shirts' Rajprasong stage, sending the crowd ducking and protest leaders rushing for cover. Initially there were reports of injuries but later a red leader, Korkaew Pikulthong, told Nation TV he was not aware of anyone being hurt.

Red leaders were also trying last night to restrain angry protesters who threatened to vandalise some buildings within the encampment. The leaders harshly criticised the government for the measures, with Natthawut Saikua warning that last night was about to become a "great tragedy."

The CRES blamed militant protesters for the violence, saying the troops were using weapons only in self-defence. Spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said troops had been told to fire low and one bullet at a time. Live bullets, though, were and would continue to be used against protesters violating prohibited zones in a hostile manner.

Yesterday's violence was the worst since April 10, when 25 people were killed and more than 800 injured in clashes between the red shirts and troops at the Rajadamnoen Avenue. Sporadic clashes have occurred since then and yesterday's fatalities brought the death toll so far close to 40.

Sansern said the government was only attempting to apply blockade pressure on protesters and had no intention of launching a crackdown on the rally site as claimed by red leaders. He claimed some of the militant reds used heavy weapons against soldiers, contributing to the violence once clashes erupted.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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THE NATION: jor sor 100 radio asks all to call and inform if anything happens in your area. Call 1555, 191 or at js100 radio 1137.

[Maestro]

SCHOOLS DELAY SEMESTER

Violence prompts fears for students' safety

By The Nation

Published on May 15, 2010

In the wake of escalating violence around the red-shirt rally site, nearby educational institutes have decided to postpone the start of the new semester.

Yesterday, Mater Dei School announced the new semester would begin on May 27.

Parents and students were told to browse its website www.materdei.ac.th to check updates about where and when they can pick up some learning materials in advance. Some documents will be handed out at Central Plaza Rama III tomorrow from 11am to 3pm.

Meanwhile, the Rajamangala University of Technology Tawan-ok’s Uthenthawai campus and the Pathumwan Institute of Technology said they would suspend their classes until tomorrow. They will then analyse the situation before announcing whether the suspension should continue.

An Education Ministry panel has urged all schools near the rally site to consider postponing the start of the new semester, for Monday for most schools.

Many violent clashes took place yesterday between soldiers and demonstrators in areas near the Rajprasong intersection, where the red shirts have camped out for weeks. The incidents resulted in deaths and injuries.

The violence erupted after Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdipol was shot and seriously wounded at a red-shirt checkpoint near the Silom intersection on Thursday night. It remained unclear who fired the shot.

The red shirts became enraged by the attack on Khattiya, and tensions ran high. Starting yesterday, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration stopped dispatching garbage trucks to the rally site, in line with an order from the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation.

"There is concern the demonstrators may damage or even torch the vehicles," Deputy Bangkok Governor Pornthep Techapaiboon said. Mass Rapid Transit Authority deputy governor Ronnachit Yaemsaard yesterday said some red shirts set fire to tyres near the subway’s Silom Station. They also tried to break into the station.

"We must therefore adjust our service plans," Ronnachit said.

As of press time, the subway was running only between Bang Sue and Rama IX stations.

The unrest has also disrupted Skytrain service, which came to a complete halt yesterday from 4pm. Commuters can check updates about service at (02) 617 6000 ext 1834-41.

Yesterday's violence also prompted the US Embassy to close.

"It is closed, and American Citizen Services will be available for emergencies only. Essential personnel right now are manning the embassy, but it’s not open," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.

He said the United States was "very concerned" about the violence between the Thai government and demonstrators.

"We're very concerned. We]re watching it very closely," Crowley said.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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Bon Kai remains very tense

The Bon Kai community, which was a major clash site between troops and protesters, remained very tense very late Friday night.

Fresh protesters turned up to confront troops, trying the break the military siege of the area.

At about 11 pm, some M79 grenades were fired at troops at the security checkpoint there.

-- The Nation 2010-05-05

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Dead, wounded in Bangkok

Shootings leave dead and wounded as the army tries to surround Red Shirts. CNN's Dan Rivers reports.

-- CNN 2010-05-14

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THE NATION: (1am) quotes Vajira Hospital director Doctor Chaiwan as saying that Seh Daeng condition is stable but he can still succumb any time.

Dr Chaiwan says the priority for Seh Daeng case is to save life rather than aiming at healing him.

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THE NATION: no live coverage on Din Daeng but earlier js100 radio reported there were lots of taxi around Din Daeng.

                     

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Deadly clashes as police besiege Bangkok protesters

Thai forces in Bangkok have fired live rounds after surrounding a fortified protesters' camp amid clashes that left at least eight people dead.

Embassies were closed as protesters set fire to a police bus and shot fireworks at troops, who also responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

A BBC correspondent says the area is like a war zone with troops firing into a park as a helicopter circled above.

Read more: news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8681833.stm

-- BBC 2010-05-14

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THE NATION: van searched going into ratchaprarob. Army opened fire on the van refusing to stop. Large knifes found. 3 people hurt

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Thai death toll 16, three foreigners hurt: emergency service

BANGKOK (AFP) -- The death toll from clashes Friday between Thai troops and anti-government protesters in Bangkok has risen to 16, while three foreigners were injured, emergency services said on Saturday.

As of 2300 GMT on Friday a total of 141 people had been wounded in the violence, "including Myanmar, Polish and Canadian," an official from the Bangkok Emergency Medical Service told AFP.

No further details on the wounded Myanmar and Polish nationals were immediately available.

The France 24 news channel said Friday that one of its cameramen, Nelson Rand of Canada, was "gravely wounded" while covering the unrest.

All of the dead were Thais, the emergency services official said.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-05-16

Published with written approval from AFP.

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UN chief calls for end to Thai violence, return to dialogue

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon appealed Friday to all sides in Thailand to avoid furthering the political violence shaking the country and to return to dialogue.

Ban said he was following the rapidly mounting violence and tensions in Thailand with "growing concern" and was "saddened" by the reports of civilian deaths, including journalists, in clashes between security forces and protesters.

"He appeals to both the protesters and the Thai authorities to do all in their power to avoid further violence and loss of life," Ban's press service said in a statement.

"He strongly encourages them to urgently return to dialogue in order to de-escalate the situation and resolve matters peacefully," it said.

Soldiers opened fire Friday on anti-government protesters in a clash in the center of Bangkok that left at least 10 people dead and 125 injured.

The violence erupted after the military moved in to seal off an area where "Red Shirt" protesters had massed against the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

The protesters used slingshots and launched fireworks at the troops as the two-month standoff descended into more violence.

Nine men and one woman, all civilians, were killed, according to the official Erawan emergency centre.

Three journalists, one a Canadian with the France 24 television channel, were shot and wounded while covering the unrest, underscoring the risks facing media in the capital, where a Japanese cameraman was killed last month.

-- ©Copyright AFP 2010-05-15

Published with written approval from AFP.

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A LETTER FROM WIRELESS-SARASIN INTERSECTION

Unfazed red-shirts guards ready for military incursion

By PRAVIT ROJANAPHRUK

THE NATION

As I entered Wireless Road yesterday |afternoon, the posh street was uncharacteristically quiet except for the occasional gun shots and the noise of helicopters hovering above.

BANGKOK: -- As I passed the Dutch Embassy, I saw an injured man being carried away on a motorcycle, squeezed between two red-shirt protesters.

There weren't that many people left but hardcore red-shirt guards were staying put as they waited for a possible incursion by soldiers.

At the Wireless-Sarasin intersection, the morale of the red-shirt guards was high.

They chatted among themselves and armed themselves with motolov cocktails, steel pipes, sling shots and bamboo sticks.

"I'm not afraid," one black-clad red-shirt guard told me. Just minutes earlier, skirmishes between soldiers and red shirts took place and one border patrol police bus was burnt down.

A number of people, mostly red shirts and reporters were injured by what appeared to be gunshots with one reported death.

"The soldiers shot at will," said another man. "This government is absolutely evil. And they are not resigning."

They exchanged tales about the skirmishes with those who returned from the frontline and by 2.30pm a leader of the guards shouted that the barricade they are manning will be shut and asked those who wanted to come inside to start moving.

"It's an order. We will burn the tyres if they come," the guards' leader warned.

Once inside, what some reds called "the liberated zone", I dropped by to buy a pop soda at a nearby eatery called "Tom Sab Rod Ded", which stopped serving food but was still selling drinks.

"Are you yellow or red?" an old lady asked me.

After telling the shop owner, a Thai-Chinese lady in her late fifties that I'm from The Nation, widely regarded as an anti-red media, she began confiding that she "dislikes reds".

The lady accused that the guards are being paid and are drug addicts and so on and added that she does not like the way they searched her car.

"[The government] must quickly suppress them even if it means deaths. War is no war without deaths," she said, adding that red shirts are "vulgar, uneducated and barbaric".

All the problems stemmed from one man - ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, she concluded.

Just minutes after I left the shop, I was spotted by a red shirt who recognised me. Mac was a former student activist.

Now a red shirt walking with sharpened bamboo walking stick, Mac said he has been sleeping here on and off for weeks.

"Many of the guards are alumni of Ramkamhaeng University," Mac insisted.

I walked with him to the Rajprasong intersection, the centre of the protest, where tens of thousands of people are still holding out bracing for the imminent military crackdown.

Soon panic briefly broke as two ambulances sped to a corner of the front of the main stage.

A speaker on the stage told the crowd to clear the way.

Two people were carried on stretchers to Police Hospital just behind the stage - one with white clothes splattered with blood covering his whole body except the feet.

A medic told me one of the two red shirt guards will not likely survive.

"Soldiers shot them," said the medic. "His pulse is very weak," he said, referring to one of the two red guards.

Red-shirt women in front of Police Hospital just next to the main stage started crying after seeing the bodies taken in.

One cried and shouted out loud: "Cruel bastard! God dam_n this regime! What are we waiting for. Let us burn [buildings] down!"

A red-shirt man then tried to calm her down but the woman said all red shirts are like her real relatives.

"Why should we allow this government to hang on to power?" she screamed.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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Red-shirt taxis block expressway's Din Daeng exit

Dozens of taxis blocked the Din Daeng exit of the elevated expressway at 5:30 am Saturday.

The taxi drivers, who support the red-shirt movement, fear that troops would be deployed to crack down on the red-shirt protesters at the Din Daeng Intersection, using the expressway.

Protesters stopped burning tyres at Din Daeng intersection but tension remained high as protesters and troops continued to confront each other there.

Meanwhile, police set up a checkpoint at the Victory Monument.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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3 injured as van trying to clash through security checkpoint at Makkasan

A van was speeding to the security checkpoint under the Airport Link Makkasan station at about 30 minutes after midnight, prompting troops to fire at it.

After the van was stopped because of the firing, troops found three persons inside. They were severely injured with bullet wounds. One of them is a boy, who appears to be 10 years old.

The driver has apparently drunk.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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TAN Network: Red-shirts at Sala Daenh set ggrbage truck and more tyres on fire. Situation remains tense.

THE NATION: BMA Emergency Health Centre revived death toll up to 16, injuries to 157 as of 6 am.

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Bloody Friday's casualties rise to 16 deaths, 157 injuries

The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration's Emergency Health Centre revived the death toll of Friday's clashes between troops and protesters to 16.

The centre announced at 6 am Saturday that 157 people were reported to be injured so far.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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Protesters Set Fire to Garbage Truck in Saladaeng

Havoc continues in Bangkok today with red-shirt protesters in Saladaeng setting fire to a garbage truck and more tyres creating billows of black fumes in the area.

Meanwhile both the BTS skytrain and MRT underground train have suspended their services today.

For more info on BTS pls contact 026177300 ext:1834,1835,1836,1837.

-- Tan Network 2010-05-15

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ThaivisaNews: Bangkok traffic: Most streets near Ratchaprasong, Saladaeng remain closed incl. Thai-Belgium Bridge, Saladaeng Rd, Silom Rd & MBK area

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ThavisaNew: Bangkok Traffic: All MRT (subway) and BTS (skytrain) suspended until further notice. Most shopping malls in Central Bangkok remain closed

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TAN Network: TR @js100radio Red-shirts clash with soldiers under Ram IV expressway ramp intersection - 2 more injured.

@RichardBarrow: Shopping malls closed: MBK, Platinum, Silom Complex, Central Chidlom, Paragon, Zen, Central World, Gaysorn & Siam Square!

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TAN Network: TR @news1005fm: Red-shirts set on fire 2 tel and police booth at Thai-Belgium bridge. Truck to supply reds shot at as it came at roadblock.

THE NATION: Nation TV: Protesters set fire to tyres at Din Daeng Intersection at 9 am Saturday.

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TAN Network: Clashes are still being reported at Thai-Belgium bridge, Rama IV expw. int., Lumpini Prk., Din Daeng ints., Soi Rang Nam, Bon Gai int.

THE NATION: Thai PBS: Few reporters remain at Rajprasong stage. Weng called on reporters to return, saying guards will guarantee their safety.

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TAN Network: Heavy traffic reported at Victory Monument and Din Daeng where roads are blocked, protesters and soliders are tensely engaging each other.

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THE NATION: Jor Sor 100: Residents of Soi Ngam Duplee helped put out fire which protesters set to garbage truck. The fire was put out at 8:58 am.

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@Dany_k: They also used motorbikes more extensively to get behind military lines (eg in rangnam) and then attack from behind

@Dany_k: Weng tells protestors to make a lot noise (HOE). That will scare them, he says. // verbal or another type of noise...

@Dany_k: The army is essentailly having to fight 360 degrees, // could that not be their fault on positioning and combat?

@Dany_k: An ambulance is trying to get in to rangnam but has just been hit by a molotv cocktail

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Red shirts burn public telephone booth in front of Lumpini Boxing Stadium

Red-shirt protesters set fire to a public telephone booth in front of the Lumpini Boxing Stadium at 8:57 am Saturday, Jor Sor 100 traffic radio station reported.

The fire spread to nearby commercial building and fire fighters could not go in to put out the blaze yet.

Sporadic gunfire and explosions were heard in the area.

Troops also fired into the sky to warn protesters not to attack them.

-- The Nation 2010-05-15

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