Death toll rises in Thailand crackdown

This can not be good.....

Thai protesters drag bodies from sidewalks
Updated: Saturday, 15 May 2010, 10:08 PM EDT
Published : Saturday, 15 May 2010, 10:08 PM EDT


BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - BANGKOK (AP) --Thailand's leader defended the deadly army crackdown on protesters besieging the capital's heart, saying Saturday the country's very future was at stake. Protesters dragged away the bodies of three people from sidewalks — shot by army snipers, they claim — as soldiers blocked major roads and pinned up notices of a "Live Firing Zone."

"I insist that what we are doing is necessary," Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said in a defiant broadcast on national television, making it clear he would not compromise. "The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country."

On Saturday, the protesters launched a steady stream of rudimentary missiles at troops who fired back with live ammunition in several areas around a key commercial district of Bangkok.

Army snipers were perched with high-powered rifles atop tall buildings, viewing the action below through telescopic sights. Thick black smoke billowed from tires set ablaze by demonstrators as gunfire rang out.

The spiraling violence has raised concerns of sustained, widespread chaos in Thailand — a key U.S. ally and Southeast Asia's most popular tourist destination that promotes its easygoing culture as the "Land of Smiles."

"The situation right now is getting close to a civil war each minute," Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader, told reporters. "Please don't ask us how we are going to end this situation, because we are the ones being killed."

http://www.woodtv.com/dpps/news/international/death-toll-rises-in-thailand-crackdown_3360357

Bloody fighting continues, death toll rises in Thailand
Published On Mon May 17 2010

BANGKOK—What began as a day of hope here Sunday — sparked by an offer of renewed negotiations — ended with the sound of gunfire and explosions rumbling across this city’s humid, night air.

It was the fourth night of wild street fighting in the heart of the Thai capital, and the situation could rapidly worsen following the death of the renegade Thai general, known as Seh Daeng. He died on Monday, after being shot Thursday in an incident that sparked the current violence.

Sunday’s fighting came after the Thai government rejected an offer of more talks with the Red Shirt protesters, who demand new elections. Instead, the government said the Red Shirts had until Monday afternoon to clear all women and children out of the protest site.

It sounded like an ultimatum — the prelude to a final, bloody onslaught.

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/a...ghting-continues-death-toll-rises-in-thailand

More violence feared as wounded rogue Thai general dies
Published: May 17, 2010 12:22 Updated: May 17, 2010 12:23

BANGKOK: A rogue Thai general who helped anti-government protesters and was shot by an unidentified sniper died Monday from his wounds, raising fears of new violence after five days of street battles that have killed 37 people in downtown Bangkok.

A luxury hotel was the scene of a heated predawn gunbattle Monday and later closed its doors, while soldiers patrolled well-known tourist enclaves and the government set another deadline for protesters to vacate their barricaded street camps.

The political conflict is Thailand's deadliest and most prolonged in decades, and each passing day of violence deepens divides in this nation of 65 million — a key US

ally and Southeast Asia's second-largest economy. Thailand has long been considered a democratic oasis in Southeast Asia, and the unrest has shaken faith in its ability to restore and maintain stability.

Tensions were expected to rise further with the news that Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, a renegade army officer accused of creating a paramilitary force for the Red Shirt protesters, died Monday, the Vajira Hospital reported. His death came five days after he was shot in the head in downtown Bangkok while talking to journalists inside the perimeter of the protest zone.

The attack on Khattiya, more popularly known as Seh Daeng, triggered widespread street fighting between anti-government protesters and the army in central Bangkok.

The Thai government on Monday warned protesters barricaded within their "occupation zone" in the heart of the capital to leave by 3 p.m., saying anyone who remains there will be violating the law and will face two years in prison.

"Immediately vacate the area that is considered dangerous," the government said in a televised announcement. "Terrorists are trying to cause deaths in the area." The announcement said buses will be provided to escort protesters out of their encampment and take them home.

http://arabnews.com/world/article54585.ece

Ultimatum passes as battles rage on in Bangkok
By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer

Monday, May 17, 2010 at 5:47 a.m


BANGKOK — A Thai government ultimatum Monday failed to dislodge thousands of Red Shirts from a protest camp in central Bangkok as their leaders made a fresh offer to negotiate on the fifth day of raging street battles that have killed 37 people.

A small plane dropped leaflets urging the estimated 5,000 protesters to abandon their fortified camp by 3 p.m. or face criminal charges and up to two years in prison. The demand had little apparent effect, and unrest still flared in various parts of the downtown area, with troops firing live ammunition at protesters who were lighting tires to hide their positions. The thick smoke darkened the sky.

Some protesters commandeered a fuel tanker from a gasoline station and pushed it to the middle of the key Rama IV road that has become a battleground. The protesters tried to set it ablaze with a burning tire and fireworks, but were deterred by troops.

On Monday, the so-called military strategist of the Red Shirts, who was shot in the head in an apparent sniper attack last week, succumbed to his injuries. The shooting last Thursday of Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol had sparked the latest unrest, two months into the standoff in the capital, and his death raised fears violence could get worse

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/may/17/ultimatum-passes-as-battles-rage-on-in-bangkok/