Civil Strife Grips Thailand

I edited this article because of it's length..
popeye

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BANGKOK – Thailand's prime minister defended Saturday the deadly army crackdown on the Red Shirt protesters besieging the capital, saying there was no turning back as clashes raged in the center of Bangkok.

"The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country," Abhisit Vejjajiva said in a national broadcast, striking a defiant tone that made it clear he was in no mood for a compromise.

The demonstrators Saturday accused government snipers of picking people off with head shots.

The army says it is not shooting to kill, but protesters crawled along sidewalks to slowly drag away bodies of three people near the city's Victory Monument traffic circle in the Ratchaprarop area Saturday. They accused army snipers of shooting all three in the head.

"The situation right now is getting closer to civil war every minute," a protest leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said. "We have to fight on. The leaders shouldn't even think about retreat when our brothers are ready to fight on."

Since then explosions and street fighting have killed 22 people and wounded more than 170 as troops tried to seal off the 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) zone where some 10,000 Red Shirt protesters, mostly rural poor, have occupied one of the capital's most upscale areas since March 12.

They have set up a perimeter of fuel-soaked tires and bamboo stakes, refusing to leave until Abhisit dissolves Parliament and calls new elections.

Troops have used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds on demonstrators after they set fire to tires and a police bus on Friday. The government accuses them of using guns, grenades and firebombs.

On Saturday, soldiers unrolled razor wire across roads leading to the Ratchaprarop area — a commercial district north of the main protest site — and pinned Thai and English-language notices saying "Live Firing Zone" and "Restricted Area. No Entry."

Ratchaprarop houses high-rise buildings, posh hotels and designer shops. It was the scene of some of the worst fighting Friday night between troops and anti-government protesters.

In several rounds of violence, a total 51 people have been killed and at least 1,620 wounded, according to a government toll that includes the most recent clashes.

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BANGKOK, THAILAND - MAY 15: Anti-government red shirt protester battle the army & police during street clashes as the violence in central part of the city escalates on May 15, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. So far at least 154 have been injured and over 20 killed in the clashes as the military and the government launched an operation to disperse anti-government protesters who have closed parts of the city for two months. A state of emergency is in effect that spreads to 17 provinces in the country. The Thai army declared certain protest areas where clashes are taking place as a 'Live Fire Zone.'

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Thai soldiers clash with "Red-Shirt" anti-government protestors and others during an operation to secure an area near Lumpini Park in downtown

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,

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, Friday, May 14, 2010. Troops fired bullets and tear gas at anti-government protesters rioting near the U.S. and Japanese embassies as an army push to clear the streets sparked bloody clashes and turned central Bangkok into a virtual war zone.

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Anti-government protestors fire home made rockets at soldiers in an area near Lumpini Park in downtown bangkok,

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, Friday, May 14, 2010.

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A 'Red Shirt' anti-government protestor gestures at Thai soldiers as he stands on a road divider with his pants down during a stand-off near their protest site in downtown

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on May 14, 2010.

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A man holds the hand of a wounded Thai red shirt demonstrator after he was shot by soldiers trying to disperse a crowd of people moving towards the red shirts fortified camp in the central financial district of downtown

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on May 13, 2010. A Thai protest leader was seriously wounded as gunshots and an explosion rang out at a vast protest camp in Bangkok after the army threatened to seal off the site, a hospital source said. The violence came after Prime Minister

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shelved a plan for November elections and hopes faded for an imminent resolution to a crippling two-month crisis that has sparked outbreaks of violence, leaving 29 people dead and 1,000 injured.

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by Anusak Konglang Anusak Konglang – Sat May 15, 6:25 pm ET

BANGKOK (AFP) – Thai troops Sunday remained locked in a tense confrontation with anti-government protesters in the capital where at least 24 people have been killed and almost 200 wounded in two days of violent unrest.

Raging violence in the heart of Bangkok claimed eight lives Saturday as the embattled prime minister vowed no turning back and the army threatened a crackdown on thousands of protesters.

Two days of street battles between soldiers and anti-government "Red Shirts" have left 24 people dead, all civilians, and 187 wounded. The military declared one area of Bangkok a "live fire zone" as troops struggled to regain control.

Scenes of urban warfare erupted on the southern and northern fringes of the Red Shirts' sprawling encampment in the heart of Bangkok, after the army moved in Thursday to seal off the area.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who last week shelved a plan to hold early elections because the protesters refused to disperse, warned the government "cannot turn back" in the two-month standoff.

Soldiers Saturday opened fire on demonstrators, some of them armed or hurling Molotov cocktails, as plumes of black smoke billowed from burning tyres.

More than 50 people have been killed and 1,600 wounded since the protests began on March 12, according to figures from the emergency services and the public health ministry.

"The current situation is almost full civil war," said a protest leader, Jatuporn Prompan. "I am not sure how this conflict will end."

The army warned it would move against the demonstrators' main rally site unless they dispersed, but gave no timetable for any such action.

"There is a plan to crack down on Ratchaprasong if the protest does not end," said army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd.

"But authorities will not set a deadline because without effective planning there will be more loss of life."

For two months thousands of protesters have turned a large area of Bangkok into a virtual state within a state, crippling a retail and hotel district and disrupting daily life for residents in the city of 12 million people.

The kingdom has been riven by political turmoil since the Reds' hero, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in a bloodless coup in 2006. Its society is deeply divided between the urban elite and rural poor.

The rally site, where demonstrators sleep on mats on the ground and listen to speeches and music blasted from giant speakers, stretches for several square kilometres (miles). It is fortified with razor wire, bamboo stakes and piles of tyres.

The mostly poor and working class Reds say the government is elitist and undemocratic because it came to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote after a court ruling ousted elected allies of Thaksin.

Protest leaders have called for the intervention of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 82. But the monarch, seen as a unifying force, has been hospitalised since September and has avoided commenting directly in public on the crisis.

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AssassinsMace said:

Can anyone give a summary or link a good source on the story of players and what led to this unrest in general? I've been reading comments in Yahoo and some Thais are trying link China in with this. First I thought they were protest supporters but apparently they're saying the protestors are supporters of ousted Thanksin(?) who they say simply because he's part Chinese and the protestors call themselves "Redshirts" there is Chinese involvement. Then I read about how the protestors are from the poorer region demonstrating against corruption where only the few benefit from the Thai government. Well since I've heard that many of the business class in Thailand are part Chinese, that sort of contradicts everything else. Really confusing. Thanks.

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Originally Posted by AssassinsMace View Post
Can anyone give a summary or link a good source on the story of players and what led to this unrest in general?

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By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer Denis D. Gray, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 25 mins ago

BANGKOK – Thailand's Red Shirts offered peace talks Monday to end raging street battles that have killed at least 37 people in Bangkok as a government deadline demanding the demonstrators vacate a protest zone passed without capitulation.

Helicopters buzzed over the demonstration site fortified with long wooden spikes and tires in the heart of the capital's commercial district, dropping leaflets ordering anyone inside to leave immediately.

The dead from clashes that erupted last Thursday include the military strategist of the Red Shirts, who succumbed Monday to a gunshot wound from a sniper attack last week. Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol's death raised fears of new violence in this Southeast Asian nation, which has been wracked by political turmoil and violence since mid-March.

A luxury hotel was the scene of a heated pre-dawn gunbattle Monday and later closed its doors. Loud blasts reverberated outside the main protest zone through the night as sustained bursts of automatic rifle fire echoed through the once-bustling business and shopping area.

The political conflict is Thailand's deadliest and most prolonged in decades, and each passing day of violence deeply divides in this nation of 65 million — a key U.S. ally and Southeast Asia's second-largest economy. Thailand has long been considered a democratic oasis in Southeast Asia, and the unrest has shaken faith in its ability to restore and maintain stability.

The Red Shirts, many of whom hail from the impoverished north and northeast, say Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolizes a national elite indifferent to their plight.

A Red Shirt leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said the only hope now to end the violence was intervention by Thailand's revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Another protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, said the Red Shirts are ready to negotiate and to submit themselves to the courts.

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