Govt claims victory in bid to secure Bangkok
The Thai government has claimed that the army was successful in its initial push to clear a protest zone in central Bangkok.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn claimed protest leaders fled the area.
But one of the leaders, Nattawut Saikua, appeared on stage in the protest zone several minutes before Mr Panitan spoke and said he has not fled.
Channel 9 television station also said that Mr Nattawut and two other leaders were still in the protest zone today.
Mr Panitan said: “Our security operation to secure the (protest zone) around Bangkok has been successful.”
Soldiers with armoured vehicles stormed into the fortified encampment occupied by anti-government protesters, breaking through bamboo-and-tire barricades in a major military offensive.
At least two protesters were killed and one Italian journalist appeared dead after he was shot in the chest. Two other foreign journalists were wounded by bullets.
Mr Panitan asked the public to inform police if any of the leaders were spotted.
The surreal scenes of warfare took place in one of the wealthiest parts of the capital, as troops armed with M-16s marched through the central business district past upscale apartment buildings to retake the area around manicured Lumpini Park, which was under the control of protesters camped there for weeks.
An Associated Press reporter who followed the troops into the protest camp saw the bodies of two men sprawled on the ground, one with a head wound and other apparently shot in the upper body.
They were the first known casualties in the assault that began before dawn on a stretch of downtown Bangkok that protesters occupied.
Troops fired M-16 rifles at fleeing protesters and shouted: “Come out and surrender or we’ll kill you.”
An AP photographer saw three foreign journalists shot. One was an Italian photographer shot in the chest. His showed no signs of life.
A Dutch journalist walked into the hospital with a bullet wound in his shoulder. The third journalist was a 53-year-old American documentary filmmaker who was treated for a shot in the leg.
The photographer also saw at least seven Thais brought to a hospital. It was unknown whether they were dead or unconscious.
As troops entered the fringes of the protest area, they passed smouldering fires and hastily abandoned campsites where clothes were still hanging on laundry lines. Shoes were scattered, chairs were overturned and a huge pile of rice was covered with flies.
Mr Panitan went on national television four hours after the crackdown began to announce it was underway, speaking first in Thai and then in English.
“The operations will continue throughout the day,” Mr Panitan said. “We would like to reassure the citizens of Bangkok that the operations are designed to make sure we stabilise the area.”
The army action came after weeks of defiance by the protesters who are seeking to oust the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.
“This is D-Day,” said one soldier when asked earlier in the day if this was the final push to clear the protest zone.
