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Trained snipers escalate violence in Bangkok
Sydney Morning Herald - February 24, 2014
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has acknowledged the presence of the gunmen despite claiming his movement to topple prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra is peaceful, telling his supporters: "They are helping us. They help us as we are fighting Yingluck with only our bare hands."
The gunmen have become known as the "popcorn shooters" after one of them used a popcorn bag to cover his automatic rifle during a gun battle outside a shopping centre in a northern Bangkok suburb on February 1. Several other gunmen also used high powered weapons that day against pro-government "red shirt" supporters.
Unidentified figures have emerged several times in recent weeks as protesters have clashed in Bangkok.
In one incident that embarrassed police last Wednesday, three men walked behind police lines during a bloody clash near government buildings blockaded by protesters in Bangkok's historic quarter.
Police had arrested and cuffed protest leader Somkiat Pongpaibul who was wanted on treason charges and was sitting in the back of a police vehicle. The unidentified men grabbed Mr Somkiat and hustled him away before police could react. Mr Somkiat could not help police with their inquiries.
While Mr Suthep, a former deputy prime minister in a military-backed government, denies knowing the identity of the men, his supporters have begun wearing "popcorn shooter" t-shirts.
Meanwhile, Mr Suthep's People's Democratic Reform Committee has accused Ms Yingluck's government of being behind a spate of deadly weekend attacks against anti-government protesters that killed three children and injured almost 60 people.
The committee's co-leader Satit Wongnontoey claimed the state was "backing" armed forces who attacked protesters in Bangkok and at a rally in eastern Thailand. "These brutal attacks were the work of the servants of the Thaksin regime," Mr Satit said, referring to Ms Yingluck's elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra who lives in exile to avoid a jail sentence for corruption.
But Ms Yingluck in a Facebook posting called on all sides of the political divide to express their differences peacefully. "The use of violence leading to death is not a civilised way. It is not the way of life of Thais who are naturally considerate and empathetic to fellow citizens," she said.
"The violent acts are terrorist acts for political gain without any regard for human life... the government will not tolerate terrorism and has ordered a full investigation by authorities to find the culprits and bring them to justice without exception."
In an escalation of the crisis a meeting on Sunday of 4000 red shirts agreed to mobilise opposition to their anti-government rivals. The red shirts have until now kept a low profile to avoid clashes that could provoke a military coup.
Leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), the red shirts' organisation, vowed at the meeting to "deal with" Mr Suthep. "This fight will be harder than any other... You must think how we can deal with Suthep and those supporting him," said Jatuporn Prompan, a UDD leader and senior member of Ms Yingluck's ruling party.
It was unclear whether he was calling for an armed struggle. Other red shirt leaders said a definite plan had not yet been finalised. "The thing we are trying to avoid at all costs is a civil war and any kind of confrontation," said UDD spokesman Thanawut Wichaidit.
The UDD is largely made up of rural supporters of Mr Thaksin, a polarising figure in Thailand who was forced from office in a 2006 military coup. Red shirt leaders in northern Chiang Mai have threatened to send squads to Bangkok to fight if Ms Yingluck, Thailand's first woman prime minister, is overthrown un-democratically.
The violence is the latest episode in an eight-year conflict that in broad terms pits two groups of Thai elites against each other, one led by Mr Thaksin and the other backed by Bangkok's middle class and royalists.
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