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| Southeast Asia |
| Thai army breaks through protest barricades |
| 2010-05-19 |
| Thai troops and armored vehicles broke through barricades of tires and staves on Wednesday in a fresh offensive to evict thousands of anti-government protesters from their fortified camp in central Bangkok, witnesses said. With troops firing tear gas ahead of the assault, the armored vehicles moved down a road toward an area where most of the estimated 3,000 demonstrators were rallying. At least two people were shot in a gunfight in the spot where the military was coming in, one in the chest while trying to help a fellow protester. The demonstrators responded by firing at soldiers, a Reuters witness said. Protesters ignited barricades of tires and bamboo soaked in kerosene as the military vehicles and troops arrived, causing thick black smoke to billow high over skyscrapers in the area, and camouflage thousands of demonstrators who have occupied the heart of Bangkok's commercial district for more than six weeks. Troops earlier used bullhorns and loudspeakers to urge protesters and civilians to leave, as military helicopters circled overhead. The military offensive came a day after the collapse of a proposal for talks aimed at ending five days of chaotic street fighting that descended into urban warfare, which killed 39 people and wounded nearly 300. Troops followed that up with tear gas. Leaders called on protesters not to panic and not to break into nearby buildings. "We must not start the violence. We will stay here together and fight together," a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, said on a stage at the main encampment. It was unclear whether the military was launching a long-anticipated operation to evict protesters or trying to first flush out women and children from the sprawling encampment where explosives, guns and grenades are thought to be stashed. Unrest has been reported in other parts of the capital. Hardcore red-shirted protesters set fire on a government building and blockaded traffic in a northern suburb. At least two dozen armored personnel carriers have approached the encampment. Some troops in the business district were as close as 200 meters (650 ft) from the protesters' three-meter (10-foot) high barricade, a Reuters photographer said. Pick-up trucks and buses carrying soldiers also arrived in the area. An advisor to Thailand's prime minister said shortly after the offensive started that the government was ready to talk to the red-shirts if they called off their protest. "We are still ready to talk. My line is open but the protest has to end first," advisor Korbsak Sabhavasau told Channel 3 television. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #4 A government, which came to power by coup, that is incapable of ending an insurgency in the south has now ignited another one in its midst. May you live in interesting times indeed. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2010-05-19 09:52 |
| #3 oh reuters... shouldn't that be tyres and not tires? how tiresome |
| Posted by: anon1 2010-05-19 09:37 |
| #2 Michael Yon has been reporting on this on Facebook (and I beleve twitter). Both with the Army and the Red Shirts. Seems they were torching buildings and such. Here are some very graphic pics (yee be warned!). |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2010-05-19 09:09 |
| #1 Red Shirt Leaders have surrendered: "please don't kill us" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2010-05-19 08:19 |