Only rubber bullets used on fatal day: Army marksmen

THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- During almost seven hours of questioning yesterday, two Army marksmen dispatched during the political unrest of 2010 insisted they had used only rubber bullets when firing at approaching militant protesters, the chief investigator reported.

Sergeants Saringkan Thaweecheep and Kacharat Niamrod, Army marksmen from the Fifth Cavalry Battalion, appeared at the Department of Special Investigation (DSI) late yesterday morning for questioning on their role during the political unrest of 2010.

They were stationed on a building in Soi Ngam Dupli, near Bangkok's Bon Kai community, on May 15, 2010. The location is close to Lumpini Boxing Stadium and not far from the red-shirt barricades around Lumpini Park where protesters camped out for several weeks surrounded by fortifications constructed of tyres, sharpened bamboo poles and gas cylinders.

Saringkan and Kacharat told the investigators yesterday that they had used M-16 assault rifles and rubber bullets against militant red shirts who were trying to attack the security forces. They said the scope in a photo taken during their operation belonged to a BB gun, and not an assault rifle.

They said during yesterday's questioning that they fired only a small number of shots while stationed at the location between 3pm and 6pm on that day, according to Police Colonel Prawet Moonpramuk, the DSI's deputy director-general and head of the investigation team.

They were instructed by their supervisors to provide protection for the security forces stationed earlier in the area. They were ordered only to fire warning shots, and for self-defence only.

The two sergeants said they were unaware at the time that a number of people had been killed and injured during the unrest on that day, the chief investigator reported.

Prawet said yesterday that the DSI would request that the Army submit the guns used by the two sergeants for DIS examination. He said the DSI would expedite its investigation into the case and then submit its findings to the Metropolitan Police for further action.

Saringkan told reporters yesterday that the questioning was "a bit stressful" and that he testified "in accordance with the truth".

He said that after the 2010 political unrest, he resigned from the Army because he had to take care of his father, who was diagnosed with a cancer.

During the questioning from 10.30am to 5pm, the two men took several breaks to visit the toilet and to smoke.

Prawet said yesterday that more witnesses would be summoned for questioning as part of the DSI investigation. These would include Thawil Pliensri, former secretary-general of the National Security Council, and General Anupong Paochinda, former Army commander-in-chief. Thawil and Anupong were part of the Council for Resolution of the Emergency Situation, which was set up by the government at the time to deal with the political unrest.

-- The Nation 2012-08-30

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

Some heads are messed up without external influence.

Presumably if there were only rubber bullet used hundreds of people should know about this fact.

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

Allegations, allegations, most likely false but who cares. It's time to repeat your mantras again, followed by the other red colored parrots on this forum. I wonder what your agenda is in all this.

Let the truth be told and put those responsible in jail for the rest of their lives! Unless they are hiding abroad of course.

Should easy to prove or disprove...I havent been in the army in many years, but dont you need an special adapter to fire rubber bullets from an M-16 ? and if memory serves the "rubber" bullets fired are rubber coated steel balls, so not really "rubber bullets"

BTW "KireB" I am not a red coloured parrot by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact in this instance the army/Goverment at the time acted appropriately considering what was happening...ie civil unrest

Wonder, to make a fair comparison, what sort of bullets the black-shirt snipers were using ?

What a load of crap. Rubber bullets are used on large bore crowd control weapons. These are usually shotguns. The weapon in which this B U L L S H I T T E R was shown with in the video is a weapon fired from a distance. Don't have to be a rocket scientist to observe this. Just look at the scope. DAYUMMIT

This would be the first time I hear an M-16 can fire rubber bullets, something I'm very reluctant to believe. Same for the scoped BB gun.

What is confusing about this story is that another English language paper in Bangkok is reporting the same story with the same individuals, but saying that the snipers only fired blanks. No mention is made of rubber bullets.

Maybe the Indonesian forces lent them their gear, three rubber one live.

Should easy to prove or disprove...I havent been in the army in many years, but dont you need an special adapter to fire rubber bullets from an M-16 ? and if memory serves the "rubber" bullets fired are rubber coated steel balls, so not really "rubber bullets" BTW "KireB" I am not a red coloured parrot by any stretch of the imagination, and in fact in this instance the army/Goverment at the time acted appropriately considering what was happening...ie civil unrest

Well it happened in the US, in the sixties, hence the 10cc song, rubber bullets.

If you watch the video carefully, you can see the gun recoiling against the shoulder of the sniper. If what was fired was a blank, there would be almost no recoil. Furthermore, that claim that blanks were used is dubious because you would not even have to aim - nor check where you hit. Ridiculous. These people are just puppets of someone bigger and they are being ordered to lie to protect someones big behind. DAYUM.

What is confusing about this story is that another English language paper in Bangkok is reporting the same story with the same individuals, but saying that the snipers only fired blanks. No mention is made of rubber bullets.

Where is the video in question?

What happened to the bullets removed from the corpses and wounded? The fact that they went to the toilet and smoked was very noteworthy.

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

Some heads are messed up without external influence.

How very true............

What happened to the bullets removed from the corpses and wounded? The fact that they went to the toilet and smoked was very noteworthy.

I guess if your in a Thai court giving testimony your not allowed to go pee at all during the day, and if your a smoker, your not allowed to smoke either, right?

Perhaps we should also deny anyone giving testimony access to food and water... make them sit in a darkened room with a bright spotlight shining directly into their face, would that be more the type of judiciary you would feel comfortable with

"We have ways of making you talk, krub!"

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

Some heads are messed up without external influence.

And others BECAUSE of external influence. And general social effluents.

During the questioning from 10.30am to 5pm, the two men took several breaks to visit the toilet and to smoke.

why is this tidbit significant enough to make it into the article?

Why declare it a live fire zone if they are not using live ammunition? Or was the live fire zone declared after 10th?

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

Allegations, allegations, most likely false but who cares. It's time to repeat your mantras again, followed by the other red colored parrots on this forum. I wonder what your agenda is in all this.

Let the truth be told and put those responsible in jail for the rest of their lives! Unless they are hiding abroad of course.

"Let the truth be told and put those responsible in jail for the rest of their lives! Unless they are hiding abroad of course."

Last week Abhisit was in Thailand going to a rally...

What happened to the bullets removed from the corpses and wounded? The fact that they went to the toilet and smoked was very noteworthy.

I guess if your in a Thai court giving testimony your not allowed to go pee at all during the day, and if your a smoker, your not allowed to smoke either, right?

Perhaps we should also deny anyone giving testimony access to food and water... make them sit in a darkened room with a bright spotlight shining directly into their face, would that be more the type of judiciary you would feel comfortable with

"We have ways of making you talk, krub!"

That would depend if they were under examination at the time, if they needed the bathroom a court member would go with them to ensure there is no interference. Could you imagine them being unable to answer a question and asking to go to the bathroom, where they are then given a coached answer by a third party outside.

Of course the army used fake bullets and those people "killed" are not really dead. It was all staged by evil foreign media aligned with Thaksin just to make the Thai army look bad. Those buffalo soldiers truly are nice guys.

Of course the army used fake bullets and those people "killed" are not really dead. It was all staged by evil foreign media aligned with Thaksin just to make the Thai army look bad. Those buffalo soldiers truly are nice guys.

I was reading the forum back then rather than posting and i seem to remember at the time some posters saying the soldiers used were not thai, they were Cambodian and Burmese

i wonder who translated for these two fine upstanding men in court yesterday

Of course the army used fake bullets and those people "killed" are not really dead. It was all staged by evil foreign media aligned with Thaksin just to make the Thai army look bad. Those buffalo soldiers truly are nice guys.

I was reading the forum back then rather than posting and i seem to remember at the time some posters saying the soldiers used were not thai, they were Cambodian and Burmese

i wonder who translated for these two fine upstanding men in court yesterday

By my recollection that was a rumor among Red Shirts, claiming the government was using foreign mercenaries.

From a cursory search

Thai media owned by the Red Shirt Movement also accused the Abhisit government of dressing up Khmer prisoners in military uniform and sent them to crackdown on the red shirt recently. How true are these rumours? Nobody knows.

Cambodian mercenaries were manning army positions protesters told me at Bon Kai and Din Daeng during the afternoon on 18 May.

Those rubber bullets make a hell of a mess of a man's head.

For those interested.

The M16 can/does fire rubber bullets. it is a slowish laborious process. The ammunition must be fired from at least 50 M to ensure the projectile is non lethal. At close range, the round is small, heavy and has high energy and could easily penetrate the body. Further than 50M it is designed to inflict non lethal pain. These rounds are nothing like the large bore baton rounds in common use with UK security services. It used to be recommended to fire the rounds on the ground in front of the target, thereby ridding the round of more energy and hitting the target via ricochet, however this often causes problems as it is unpredictable where the round will hit a target (eyes/head etc).

For those who think that blank rounds do not cause any recoil on a military rifle, you are wrong.

The reds wanted an inquiry, they now have one. As soon as any evidence is given in court that does not suit their purpose they cry foul...pathetic!

During the questioning from 10.30am to 5pm, the two men took several breaks to visit the toilet and to smoke.

why is this tidbit significant enough to make it into the article?

To show how nervous they were?

During the questioning from 10.30am to 5pm, the two men took several breaks to visit the toilet and to smoke.

why is this tidbit significant enough to make it into the article?

To show how nervous they were?

I'd be cr@pping myself if i were in court for this... we all know that the truth doesn't really count for much, the Reds and Govt are baying for Democrat blood, so someone, somewhere will be offered up as the proverbial sacrificial lamb, doesn't really matter if they are guilty or innocent in Thailand.

During the questioning from 10.30am to 5pm, the two men took several breaks to visit the toilet and to smoke.

why is this tidbit significant enough to make it into the article?

To show how nervous they were?

And only human.

I was in soi ngam duplee on that day (May 15th). I went there because I lived quite close, and was able to park my car in the Ibis hotel car park on the corner, and I can say without doubt that those bullets were definitely not rubber. Attached is a photo I took looking up the road toward Rama IV, showing the black tire smoke, and a group of Reds behind the Kasikorn Bank on the corner, before they burned it down.