Thailand violence ratchets up as country looks on brink of civil war

Published on Saturday 15 May 2010 19:25

EXPLOSIONS and violent street fighting rocked Bangkok yesterday as Thai troops clashed with protesters for a third-day running and the country teetered on the brink of civil war.

• Thai soldiers open fire as they clash with ''Red Shirt'' anti-government protesters. Pic:AFP

Streets in the centre of the city became battlegrounds as authorities struggled to contain Red Shirt demonstrators demanding the prime minister's resignation. The government put up banners in parts of the business district warning people they were entering a "live fire zone".

More than 20 people have died over the past 72 hours with protesters accusing the Thai army of "picking off" leading rebels with sniper shots to the head.

Yesterday's continuing violence followed government attempts to seal off the one-square-mile zone the Red Shirts have occupied in one of the capital's most upmarket areas.

The army says its troops are not shooting to kill, but protesters, during a lull in clashes yesterday, crawled along pavements to slowly drag away corpses of three people near the city's Victory Monument.

In his first comments since the latest violence erupted, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva defended the army's actions. "The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country," he said.

The plan is "to return normalcy with minimum loss" to the Thai capital, he added, claiming that "terrorists" had infiltrated the Red Shirt protesters.

As he spoke, thousands of armed troops struggled to throw a security cordon around Bangkok's commercial centre battling protesters armed with petrol bombs, rocks and, according to the government, guns and grenades.

Medical rescue workers were seen running into the streets to evacuate the wounded and the dead.

One rescue worker was shot and feared dead. At least three journalists were among the 161 wounded since Thursday night.

Despite the carnage, British expatriates spoke last night of their determination not to flee the city.

"I was getting kind of optimistic last week when they had the offer on the table, but now, I just don't know," said Ann Patrick, a Briton living close to an area where protesters and troops fought a bloody clash yesterday.

She added: "It's difficult to see how this will end."

The British Embassy warned yesterday of "intense violence" in two areas of the capital.

The US Embassy was also preparing to issue a new alert last night urging its citizens against any travel to Thailand's capital.

Thousands of red-shirted demonstrators, many of them women and children, attempted to fortify their encampment with walls of tyres and bamboo poles topped with razor wires yesterday. They seemed unperturbed over the possibility troops could invade the bastion they have occupied for the past six weeks.

"Let them come," said one red shirt named Piahist, brandishing a bamboo spear.

Power and mobile phone signals were fading in parts of the city, while near-empty hotels once eager to lure wealthy guests have been trying to keep them away.

In a televised address on Friday, Thailand's government spokesman said the situation would return to normal "in a few days", but residents were not as confident.

"My ears are ringing with all the shooting last night," said Ratana Veerasawat, the owner of a grocery store north of the protest site.

"It's just awful and getting worse. Best to leave now."

People forced to walk home at night in the urban war-zone heard soldiers screaming and firing warning shots at protesters, punctuated by the occasional blast of grenades, which the military said some Red Shirts were throwing.

News images showed disturbing scenes of motionless bodies lying in pools of blood in front of the Red Shirt barricades surrounding their encampment in the commercial district.

Local television showed an angry mob beating a soldier left behind by his unit during chaotic fighting, in which there is no clear front line. The young soldier was kicked and punched before bystanders intervened and bundled him into an ambulance.

One video captured a Canadian journalist lying on the ground pleading for help after being shot three times. Others showed civilians scurrying for cover or hauling wounded demonstrators to safety as gunshots rang out in the streets.

In a message from New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to both sides to "do all within their power to avoid further violence and loss of life".

But with negotiations terminated, the situation appeared last night to be heading toward a final confrontation.

"The situation right now is getting closer to civil war every minute," a protest leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said

"We have to fight on. The leaders shouldn't even think about retreat when our brothers are ready to fight on."

The Red Shirt protesters began their latest campaign to oust the government in March, saying it came to power illegitimately and was indifferent to the poor. In several rounds of violence since then, a total 43 people have been killed and at least 1,620 wounded, according to a government toll that includes the most recent clashes.

Protesters have urged 82-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej to end his long silence and intervene, but there was no word from the widely revered ailing monarch.

The latest violence erupted on Thursday after the Red Shirts' military strategist – a former Thai general – was shot and seriously injured, apparently by a sharpshooter, as he spoke to foreign journalists.

The Red Shirts, mostly rural poor, began camping in the capital on 12 March to try to force out the prime minister. They claim his coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military.

The military had forced Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist premier favoured by the Red Shirts, from office in a 2006 coup. Two subsequent pro-Thaksin governments were disbanded by court rulings before Abhisit became prime minister.

The occupation has forced luxury hotels and high-end shops to close for weeks. Major roads around the protest site were blocked to traffic yesterday, and the city's underground and elevated train shut down.