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If we have to clash, we will: Thai army
Thailand's military vowed on Sunday to "punish" anti-government protesters if they march on Bangkok's central business district, raising fears of further violence after bloody clashes killed 24 people a week ago. Supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra said on Saturday they may take their protest to the financial district, two blocks away from their main downtown protest base, on Tuesday, in defiance of an emergency decree. "We won't let them go anywhere further," army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said. Sansern stopped short of using the word "crackdown" but said protesters occupying the plush shopping and hotel district for a 16th day would be dealt with. "Let's say that we are left with no choice but to enforce the law," Sansern told TNN television. "Those who do wrong will get their punishment. Taking back the area along with other measures are all included in enforcing the law. All this must be done." Sansern said uniformed and armed security forces would be sent to secure high-rises around the demonstration area to prevent the "third hand", whom the government has blamed for the killings, from launching attacks. The red shirts said they would counter with their own people. "Whatever will be will be. If we have to clash, we will ... We need to enforce the law decisively. We can't just think that 'we don't want casualties', otherwise the country can't move forward," Sansern said. "Casualties would only happen after security forces have tried their best to avoid them, while those people are trying to take away our weapons and lives." Yellow shirts: Adding to concerns about further unrest, leaders of the anti-Thaksin "yellow shirt" movement - representing royalists, the business elite, aristocrats and urban middle class - gave the government a week to end the crisis, after which they would also hold a mass rally. The yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) staged a crippling eight-day blockade of Bangkok's airports in December 2008, which left more than 230,000 tourists stranded, disrupted trade and led to credit ratings downgrades for Southeast Asia's second-largest economy. "We give the government seven days to return peace to the country or we, every member of the PAD, will perform our duty under the constitution" to protect the throne, PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang told a news conference. Adding to the mix, about 3,000 "multi-colour" protesters, seeking a return to normalcy, gathered at a war memorial. "We are the peace-loving people who have been severely affected by the red-shirts," said Tul Sittisomwong, a yellow shirt and the leader of the multi-colour network. "...We are congregating here peacefully to tell the red shirts please stop using the violence, please stop hurting the people on the streets." A heated confrontation between troops and demonstrators, who are demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve parliament and step down, led to bloody clashes on April 10, the first outbreak of violence in the six-week protests. Posted by: Fred 2010-04-19 |
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