Thai protesters reject talks after deadly clashes

[Mentors]

BANGKOK  Anti-government protesters dug into their encampments around Bangkok and rejected talk of negotiations Sunday after a monthlong standoff escalated into clashes that killed 20 people in Thailand's worst political violence in nearly two decades.

 

Bullet casings, rocks, pools of blood and shattered army vehicles littered the streets near a main tourist area where soldiers had tried to clear the protesters, who are demanding that the prime minister dissolve Parliament, call early elections and leave the country.

 

[color:red]Foreign governments issued warnings for citizens visiting Thailand, where tourism is a lifeblood industry.[/color]

 

On Sunday, protesters showed off a pile of weapons they had captured from the troops, including rifles and heavy caliber machine-gun rounds. More than half a dozen military vehicles, armored personnel carriers, Humvees and a truck, were crippled by the protesters, who ripped out the treads of the armored cars.

The activists also captured several Thai soldiers who were later released.

 

On Sunday, the protesters broke into a satellite communications complex in northern Bangkok suburb, forcing the operators to restore the Red Shirts' vital People Channel television station, which the government had twice earlier shut down.

 

[color:red]Jatuporn Prompan, a leader of the Red Shirt movement that contends the current government is illegitimate because it does not reflect results of the last elections, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's hands were "bloodied" by the clashes Saturday night.

"There is no more negotiation. Red Shirts will never negotiate with murderers," Jatuporn announced from a makeshift stage. "Although the road is rough and full of obstacles, it's our duty to honor the dead by bringing democracy to this country."[/color]

 

[color:red]Another protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told reporters that funeral rites would be held Sunday evening for 14 dead protesters near where they fell, and that their bodies would be paraded through Bangkok on Monday. No demonstrations were planned for Sunday.[/color]

 

Government forces Saturday night moved into a protester-occupied area around Bangkok's Democracy Monument, near the backpacker mecca of Khao San Road. The push instead set off street fighting.

Soldiers made repeated charges to clear the Red Shirts, while some tourists watched.

 

Each side blamed the other for the violence. Red Shirt leaders accused the military of opening fire into the crowds, while army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd accused protesters of firing live rounds and throwing grenades.

Government spokesman Panithan Wattanayakorn said the military only fired live ammunition into the air. He said authorities have found grenades, assault rifles and homemade weapons among the protesters.

 

Four soldiers and 16 civilians were killed, according to the government's Erawan emergency center. Panithan said 200 soldiers were injured, 90 of them seriously.

 

At least 834 people were injured, according to the emergency center. The deaths included Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto, who worked for the Thomson Reuters news agency. In a statement, Reuters said he was shot in the chest and the circumstances of his death were under review.

 

Police spokesman Lt. Gen. Pongsapat Pongcharoen said an autopsy committee, which would include two Red Shirt members, was set up to examine corpses of those killed, including Muramoto.

 

It was the worst violence in Bangkok since four dozen people were killed in a 1992 antimilitary protest. Late Saturday, army troops pulled back and asked protesters to do the same, resulting in an unofficial truce.

South Korea and China both urged their nationals Sunday to avoid visiting Bangkok. Australia warned its citizens of a "strong possibility of further violence" in Thailand, and Foreign Minister Stephen Smith told tourists to stay away from the protests.

Apichart Sankary, an executive with the Federation of Thai Tourism Associations, said that if street protests continue the number of foreign visitors could drop to 14.5 million this year, against an earlier official projection of 15.5.

The U.S. State Department has not updated a travel alert issued last week when a state of emergency was imposed that advised citizens to be careful when visiting the Thai capital.

 

The demonstrations are part of a long-running battle between the mostly poor and rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the ruling elite they say orchestrated the 2006 military coup that removed him from power amid corruption allegations.

 

The protesters, called "Red Shirts" for their garb, see the Oxford-educated Abhisit as a symbol of an elite impervious to the plight of Thailand's poor and claim he took office illegitimately in December 2008 after the military pressured Parliament to vote for him. Thaksin's allies had won elections in 2007 but court rulings removed two governments on charges of conflict of interest and vote-buying.

 

Saturday's violence and the failure to dislodge the protesters are likely to make it harder to end the political deadlock.

 

[color:red]Abhisit "failed miserably," said Michael Nelson, a German scholar of Southeast Asian studies working in Bangkok.[/color]

 

Abhisit went on national television shortly before midnight to pay condolences to the families of victims and indirectly assert that he would not bow to the protesters' demands.

 

"The government and I are still responsible for easing the situation and trying to bring peace and order to the country," Abhisit said.

 

[color:red]Authorities' failure to clear the protest sites raised questions about how much control Abhisit has over the police and army.[/color] Arrest warrants have been issued for 27 Red Shirt leaders, but none is known to have been taken into custody.

 

The Red Shirts have a second rally site in the heart of Bangkok's upscale shopping district, where they remained Sunday even after more troops were sent there Saturday. The city's elevated mass transit system known as the Skytrain, which runs past that site, stopped running and closed some of its stations for the second day Sunday.

 

Merchants say the demonstrations have cost them hundreds of millions of baht (tens of millions of dollars), and luxury hotels near the site have been under virtual siege.

 

Associated Press writers Grant Peck, Kinan Suchaovanich, Denis D. Gray and Thanyarat Doksone contributed to this report.

 

 

[Flashermac]

What about the two yellow shirts Somchai's police killed (one a young woman)? Will they be honoured too ... or don't they count? How about the yellow folks with a foot or leg blown off?

 

And if Abhisit does not have control over the military and police, how is it all his fault?

 

 

 

 

 

[Flashermac]

House dissolution: 'Only option'

11 Apr 2010

 

 

 

The government has no other option than to dissolve the House of Representatives to restore peace to the country, said former acting leader Chaturon Chaisaeng of the dissolved Thai Rak Thai Party on Sunday.

 

"I believe the political situation will be clear by next week," Mr Chaturon said after visiting the injured red-shirt protesters at the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration General Hospital.

 

On Saturday, protesters led by the anti-government United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) clashed with soldiers, resulting in at least 20 dead and over 800 injured.

 

"I want the junior coalition parties to decide quickly whether they want to remain with the Democrat-led government. There can be changes by having a general election only," he said.

 

Former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat, who is convicted deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra's brother-in-law, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva must be held accountable for the bloodshed on Saturday.

 

Mr Somchai visited wounded demonstrators at Bangkok Metropolitan Administration General Hospital and offered them his financial assistance.

 

"I urge the prime minister and his cabinet to take responsibility for the incident on Saturday. The government is not doing the right thing by using force to disperse the protesters because people have the right to call for democracy," Mr Somchai said.

 

He said the government can settle this problem by dissolving the House.

 

He said the coalition partners should consider whether they would want to work the Democrats, since they would also be held responsible for the casualties from the clashes yesterday

 

"I ask the National Human Rights Commission of Thailand to see if the government is violating people's rights," the former premier added.

 

[color:red]However, Deputy Prime Minister Sanan Kachornprasart said dissolving the House was not the government's only option.[/color]

 

[color:red]"If the prime minister dissolves the House now, the political turmoil would likely continue because other coloured-shirt groups would come out to rally again," the Chart Thai Pattana Party advisory chief said.[/color]

 

On the authorities' efforts to disperse the protesters, Maj Gen Sanan said the government was not being ineffective but was following procedure.

 

 

 

BP

[Old Hippie]

Ok, so at this point anyone want to still tell me this will end WITHOUT bloodshed? at least one guy has PT'd me and said "well you got your bloodshed, but not to the extent you thought..." (so far?) as if it matters. I can't believe how fast some people forget history.

[Coss]

I'm very far away and I hope I'm wrong, but So Far is what I'd say, more to come...