| Home > South-East Asia >> Thailand | |
Thai troops ordered to shoot on sight
The Australian - May 20, 2010
Bangkok (AP, AFP) – Downtown Bangkok became a flaming battleground last night after an army assault forced anti-government protest leaders to surrender, enraging followers who shot grenades and set fire to landmark buildings, cloaking the skyline in black smoke.
Using live ammunition, troops dispersed thousands of Red Shirt protesters who had been camped in the capital's premier shopping and residential district for weeks. Six protesters and an Italian news photographer were killed in the ensuing gun battles and about 60 wounded.
Leaders of the Red Shirt protesters, who are demanding fresh elections, called off their marathon rally and surrendered to police yesterday after an early-morning army assault on their fortified camp in central Bangkok.
But hardliners among the fragmented anti-government campaigners continued to defy heavily armed security forces into the night, setting fires at the Stock Exchange; several banks; the headquarters of the Metropolitan Electricity Authority; Central World, one of Asia's biggest shopping malls; and a cinema that burned to ground. There were also reports of looting.
The government declared an 8 pm to 6am curfew in Bangkok, and said army operations would continue through the night.
A police spokesman said elite units had been deployed with authorisation to shoot on sight anybody looting, committing arson or inciting unrest. "Tonight is going to be another worrisome night," government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.
It also imposed a partial media blackout on local TV stations, saying all of them would have to air government-prepared bulletins.
"They might be able to show their regular news programs. But we are concerned about their live broadcasts from the scenes," Mr Panitan said. "There will be more (government) programs... to be shown simultaneously by all stations," he said.
Protesters turned their rage on the local media, which they have accused of pro-government coverage. They attacked the offices of state-run Channel 3, setting fire to cars outside and puncturing water pipes that flooded the building.
Hours later its building was on fire. Its executives were evacuated by helicopter and police rescued about 100 staff. The English-language Bangkok Post newspaper evacuated its staff after threats from the Red Shirts. A large office building down the street from the Post was set afire.
Unrest also spread to the rural northeast of the country, where the Red Shirts, who claim the Abhisit government is elitist and oblivious to their plight, retain strong support.
Local media reported protesters set fire to government offices in the city of Udon Thani and vandalised a city hall in Khon Kaen. Udon Thani's governor asked the military to intervene. TV images also showed troops retreating after being attacked by mobs in Ubon Ratchathani.
Cabinet minister Satit Vongnongteay described the chaos as anticipated "aftershocks". "There are violent-prone protesters who remain angry," Satit told a news conference.
At least 45 people have been killed, most of them civilians, in a week of violence in Bangkok as a military attempt to blockade the protesters – who had camped in the three-square-kilometre Rajprasong district for six weeks – instead touched off street fighting, with soldiers firing on protesters who fought back mostly with homemade weapons.
The final crackdown began soon after dawn yesterday, as hundreds of troops armed with M-16s converged on the Red Shirt base in Rajprasong, where high-end malls and hotels have been shuttered by the prolonged protest.
Armoured vehicles crashed through barricades of piled tyres and bamboo stakes, then soldiers gradually moved towards the protesters' hub, opening fire and drawing return fire from militant Red Shirts. Bullets flew overhead and several grenades exploded near the soldiers, forcing them to pull back and take cover briefly before pushing forward.
Armed forces moved in to choke off the protest after Red Shirt leaders failed to agree on a way to end the demonstrations that have pitted the mostly rural demonstrators against the army-backed government, which they say has manipulated Thailand's democratic process to hold on to power. Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said the army was taking action to "restore rule of law" after months of chaos in central Bangkok.
People familiar with the negotiations between the two sides said the biggest problem was the main Red Shirt leaders' inability to control hardcore demonstrators on the edges of the rally. The threat of further guerilla-type clashes remains in rural areas.
The Red Shirts, many of them followers of ousted populist leader Thaksin Shinawatra, are demanding immediate elections to restore a political system they say has been manipulated by powerful military officers and bureaucrats, backed by Bangkok's elite.
Their protest began peacefully on March 12, when tens of thousands of people marched into Bangkok after Thai courts confiscated $1.4 billion of Thaksin's family fortune. (AP, AFP)
See also:
 |