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Five shot dead in Bangkok crackdown
Agence France Presse - May 19, 2010
Violent chaos is gripping Bangkok this afternoon, with five people, including an Italian journalist, killed amid gunbattles during an army crackdown on an anti-government protest site in the Thai capital.
"An Italian man was shot and died before arriving at the hospital," said Police Hospital director Jongjet Aoajenpong. "He's a journalist. He was shot in the stomach."
Four more people died and "many" were wounded, said a police spokesman, Major General Piya Uthayo, after military armoured vehicles smashed through the "Red Shirt" protesters' barricades and armed troops moved in.
An AFP photographer saw two protesters lying dead on the ground after being shot in the head when troops pushed into the encampment, where several thousand demonstrators remained despite a government warning to leave.
Many say they fear for their lives as security forces advance on their Bangkok protest site, which they have occupied for six weeks. Australians have been warned by DFAT to avoid Bangkok due to the "extreme risk of violence".
"Please stay calm today. No matter what happens, we will stay here together," said leader Nattawut Saikuar said from the Red Shirts' main stage.
"The government is using the military to crack down on us, but we still use non-violence. We are ready to enter negotiations as we keep calling for negotiations."
He said those "who fear for your life" should go to a temple that has been designated as a safe zone, but he called on volunteers willing to stay to "stand together". "I call on the military to stop operations immediately," he added.
The Thai government said many of the Red Shirt leaders had fled but Nattawut Saikuar, Jatuporn Prompan and Kwanchai Praipana were seen at the stage.
"It's clear that many of the Red Shirt leaders fled the protest site. An eyewitness said one of them, Arisman Pongruangrong, left on motorbike," government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.
"Security officials will implement their operation in line with procedure to resolve the crisis as soon as possible," he said on national television.
As an estimated 3000-5000 supporters who have refused to leave were urged to gather around the main protest stage for safety, Reds leader Kwanchai Praipana said: "We are not going anywhere, we will stay put and pray.
"We are unarmed. If we had weapons like we are accused we would not sit here and wait for our death," he said as the crowd, including many women and children, listened intently.
As gunfire crackled overhead and armoured vehicles smashed through the protesters' main barricade of car tyres and bamboo staves, many of the thousands of Reds occupying Bangkok's tense retail heart remained resolute.
Gunfire was being exchanged from both sides and at least one Red Shirt protester was seen carrying a weapon, after security forces broke through barricades and pushed inside the rally base today.
"They want to come inside here to shoot all the people. I'm fighting for democracy. I'm fighting for my friends who died," said one emotional protester, Sirasa Raungrut, a 52-year-old from Chiang Rai, in northern Thailand.
But after a week of violence which has already left 39 dead in wild street battles as the army tried to seal off the encampment, others were becoming panicky. "It's dangerous. I'm leaving here," said one woman who scuttled away, leading her little boy by the hand.
On the protest stage one announcer, Worawut Vichaidit, said they feared the worst.
"Troops are intending to shoot and kill us," he told the crowd as smoke billowed overhead from several large fires that have broken out at the barricades and at major buildings outside the base.
"The government should stop the troops' advancement. If they come in here they will kill innocent people. We are unarmed," he said.
But a man in a black shirt was seen strolling towards the stage with string of bullets over shoulder, while several other men in black went past in flak jackets, one brandishing a samurai sword.
A senator involved in failed last-minute peace talks said he feared the military operation, launched after the Reds defied a Monday deadline to disperse, would cause serious loss of life.
"The government has chosen to decisively enforce the law. The signals are that absolutely the army will win, but the losses will be unbearable," said General Lertrat Rattanavanich.
"Certainly, based on all the signs that I have seen there will be a crackdown, not a containment," added the senator, who was one of a group in the upper house who tried to act as mediators.
Hundreds of army and police advanced towards the protest zone in the pre-dawn hours, with trucks dropping off troops wearing balaclavas and carrying weapons and riot shields, while a helicopter circled overhead.
Several large fires broke out at barricades and major buildings around the protest zone, sending out massive clouds of black smoke that obscured the Bangkok skyline.
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