Protests cripple Bangkoks's financial hub
Bangkok’s main financial district was partially shut today as pro and anti-government protesters faced off following deadly grenade attacks.
Many banks, offices, restaurants and a major shopping complex were closed along Silom Road, known as Thailand’s Wall Street.
The late-night attacks involved five M-79 military grenades shot from near where anti-government Red Shirt protesters have been encamped for weeks, and the blasts struck areas where counter-demonstrators gathered.
The late-night attacks killed at least one person and wounded 86.
The head of a key security agency, Tharit Pengdit, urged the general public to avoid the area near the protests and warned that anyone involved in “terrorism” will face the death penalty.
Thousands of mostly rural Red Shirts have been camped on Bangkok’s streets since March 12 in a campaign to dissolve parliament and hold immediate elections, and Thailand’s powerful military has warned them that time is running out to clear the streets or face a crackdown.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has voiced concern that the situation could escalate and called for talks.
Both the US and Britain have advised against all but essential travel to Bangkok.
The latest violence occurred in Bangkok’s financial district where soldiers have been stationed. Across the intersection, Red Shirts have built barricades of tires and bamboo stakes.
Behind the barricades, Red Shirts have created a virtual village complete with sleeping tents, canteens and portable toilets. Five-star hotels, shopping malls and office buildings in the upscale district have closed.
Silom Road is lined with bank headquarters and other office buildings, but also is a popular tourist destination, filled with restaurants and popular nightlife venues.
But yesterday it looked more like a war zone with grenade blasts lighting the night sky and panicked people fleeing the scene. Some rushed the bloodied wounded to safety as throngs of riot police and armed soldiers swarmed the area.
A protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, said he spent the night in talks with Deputy Prime Minister Korbsak Sabhavasu, but that there appeared to be no resolution to the crisis.
The Red Shirts consist mainly of poor rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists who opposed the military coup that ousted him in 2006 after months of demonstrations by the Yellow Shirts.
The Red Shirts believe the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is illegitimate because it came to power under military pressure through a parliamentary vote after disputed court rulings ousted two elected pro-Thaksin governments. They want Parliament dissolved and new elections held.
