Thai violence escalates as troops fire on demonstrators
Troops opened fire on Thai protesters in deadly clashes today as spiralling street violence threatened to plunge the country into chaos.
Eight people were killed and dozens more injured as the army took the first steps in trying to clear the thousands of Red Shirt demonstrators from Bangkok.
As night fell explosions and the sound of gunfire rattled around the central business district.
Several grenades hit a nearby shopping centre and rail station. Plumes of black smoke hung over the neighbourhood as tyres burned in empty streets while onlookers ducked for cover.
Among those wounded were two Thai journalists and a Canadian reporter, who was in a serious condition.
With security deteriorating and hopes of a peaceful resolution to the stand-off increasingly unlikely, what was once one of Southeast Asia’s most stable democracies and magnets of foreign investment has been thrust deep into political uncertainty. The crisis threatens its stability, economy and already-suffering tourism industry.
Violence escalated after a rogue army general regarded as a military adviser to the Red Shirt protesters was shot in the head yesterday, possibly by a sniper. Doctors said Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol was still in a coma and could die “at any moment.”
“We are being surrounded. We are being crushed. The soldiers are closing in on us. This is not a civil war yet, but it’s very, very cruel,” protest leader Weng Tojirakarn said.
Fighting has now killed 37 people and injured hundreds since the Red Shirts, mostly rural poor, began camping in the capital on March 12, in a bid to force out Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They claim his coalition government came to power illegally through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, which in 2006 forced the populist premier favoured by the Red Shirts, Thaksin Shinawatra, from office in a coup.
Last week, Abhisit offered November elections, raising hopes that a compromise could be reached with the Red Shirts, who have been demanding immediate elections. Those hopes were dashed after Red Shirt leaders made more demands.
Last week, Abhisit offered November elections, raising hopes that a compromise could be reached. They were dashed after Red Shirt leaders made more demands.
Late last night the army moved to seal off the Red Shirt barricaded encampment which covers a square mile in an upmarket commercial district of the capital. Some 10,000 protesters, women and children among them, have crammed into the area.
“We are being surrounded. We are being crushed. The soldiers are closing in on us. This is not a civil war yet, but it’s very, very cruel,” one protest leader Weng Tojirakarn said.
Protesters captured and vandalised two military water cannon trucks at a key junction in the business district, just outside the Red Shirt encampment, which is fortified with bamboo stakes and tyres. They ripped the cannon from its moorings and used its plastic barrel to shoot fireworks from behind a sandbag bunker they had commandeered from soldiers.
They later set fire to tyres and a police bus that sent thick plumes of smoke into the sky. Soldiers fired automatic rifles repeatedly.
Among Friday’s casualties, a Thai TV cameraman was shot in his thigh and a photographer was shot in the leg.
A Canadian freelance working for the France 24 news channel was hit three times. One bullet perforated his leg, another hit his abdomen, another hit his wrist. He underwent surgery and was recovering.
The violence was concentrated on a small area around the Red Shirt encampment, close to the American and Japanese embassies, which were closed to the public. The nearby British, New Zealand and the Dutch embassies were also shut.
Tensions escalated after renegade army Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, who is accused of creating a paramilitary force for the Red Shirts, was shot in the head last night as he talked to reporters just inside the perimeter of the protesters’ encampment.
He was taken to a hospital in a coma and was in critical condition. Doctors said he could die “at any moment.” It was not known who shot Khattiya, better known by the nickname Seh Daeng. But the Red Shirts blamed a government sniper.
The two-day clashes marked the worst continuous episode of violence since April 10, when 25 people were killed and more than 800 injured in clashes between Red Shirts and troops in Bangkok’s historic area. Four more people were killed in subsequent clashes.
