| Submit your comments on this article |
| Southeast Asia |
| Thai army tightens grip |
| 2010-04-20 |
| [Straits Times] THAI military forces threw a ring of steel around Bangkok's main financial district yesterday to stop anti-government protesters from paralysing yet another key commercial centre. More than 1,000 military personnel armed with automatic rifles took up positions along Silom Road as early as 2am following threats by the 'red shirts' of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) to take over the financial district. About 200m away on the Ratchadamri intersection along Bangkok's famous Lumpini Park, several thousand red shirts assembled for a face-off with Thai troops. Many business operators in the Silom area and diplomats expressed fears of violence in the coming days, just like the April 10 street battles that left 25 people dead and more than 800 others injured. 'The army has drawn a line in Silom and the red shirts will want to cross it. There will surely be fights,' said tattoo parlour owner Mana Bangchang, who is sympathetic towards the red shirts. Barbed wire barricades were erected outside storefronts and commercial bank branches in the financial district. Traffic on the typically busy Silom Road was light yesterday because water-cannon tanks and military trucks occupied the thoroughfare, forcing many of the city's residents to avoid the area. |
| Posted by:Fred |