Thailand: Redshirts battle police and military personal, eight are killed.

[Wakka]

[release][B](Reuters) - Thai troops fired rubber bullets and tear gas at thousands of demonstrators, who fought back with guns, grenades and petrol bombs in riots which killed eight people in Bangkok's worst political violence in 18 years.

[/B]At least 521 people, including 64 soldiers and police, have were wounded in the fighting near the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road in Bangkok's old quarter, a protest base near government buildings and the regional U.N. headquarters.
Four civilians and four soldiers were killed, deputy governor of Bangkok Malinee Sukavrejworakit said. She did not give details. Hundreds of protesters went to Klang Hospital near the last and most violent clash to seek details on casualties.
Hundreds of "red shirt" protesters also forced their way into government offices in two northern cities, raising the risk of a larger uprising against Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his 16-month-old, military-backed government.
After hours of violence, army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said troops would pull back in the old quarter as the riot spread into Khao San Road, an area popular with back-packing tourists.
"If this continues, if the army responds to the red shirts, violence will expand," Sansern said.
He urged the protesters to do the same as they pelted soldiers with petrol bombs and M79 grenades. He said some protesters were armed with guns.
A red shirt leader later called on supporters to pull back to the main protest sites.
Khao San Road resembled a war zone, a Reuters photographer said. Shop windows were shattered. Cars were smashed. Many people lay wounded on the street. Police told reporters some protesters ignited cooking gas cylinders and rolled them into troops.
"We are changing our demand from dissolving parliament in 15 days to dissolving parliament immediately," protest leader Veera Musikapong told the "red shirt" demonstrators. "And we call for Abhisit to leave the country immediately."
Troops mounted two major offensives on protesters in the Phan Fah bridge and Rajdumnoen Road area. Both times they fired rubber bullets and tear gas but failed to clear the area.
An afternoon offensive ended in a tense standoff with many wounded. After dark, troops opened fire again with rubber bullets about 500 meters (1,600 ft) away at an intersection leading to Khao San Road. Some fired live rounds into sky. Thai media said helicopters dropped tear gas.
BARRICADED SHOPPING DISTRICT
Tens of thousands also remained in Bangkok's main shopping district, a stretch of upscale department stores and five-star hotels held for a week by the mostly rural and working-class red shirts who say they have been marginalized in a country with one of Asia's widest disparities between rich and poor.
The red shirts used taxis and pick-up trucks to barricade themselves in that area, and expanded their control to include several more blocks. Hundreds of riot police who massed at one end retreated after being surrounding by red shirts.
The violence comes exactly a year after about 10,000 of the supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra brought traffic in Bangkok to a standstill for several days, occupying major intersections.
In those protests, red shirts hijacked petrol tankers, torched dozens of public buses and hurled petrol bombs at troops until the army imposed order. Two people were killed and 123 wounded. The latest protests, however, involved more than five times as many protesters spread across several areas of the city.
The protesters say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. They want immediate elections Thaksin's allies would be well placed to win.
The red shirts have won new support from Bangkok's urban poor but have angered middle classes, many of whom regard them as misguided slaves to Thaksin, a wily telecoms tycoon who fled into exile to avoid a jail term for graft.
Hundreds also forced their way into the governor's office compound in the northern city of Chiang Mai and hundreds more broke into a town hall in Udon Thani in the northeast.
The government declared a state of emergency in Bangkok on Wednesday to control the protests after red shirts broke into the grounds of parliament, forcing some officials including the deputy prime minister to flee by helicopter.
The humiliating failure of security forces to stop protesters from besieging parliament and a satellite station two days later has raised questions over the competence and loyalty of Thailand's armed forces in a month of increasingly bold protests.
[URL]http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE6390VO20100410[/URL]
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[URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmOB2f4M0k"][media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcmOB2f4M0k[/media]
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[NoDachi]

Aww I hope they get their shit together by the summer.

Otherwise I'll have to cross Bangkok off my Asia tour :(

I still remember when I was in Sri Lanka in 2006 when shit hit the fan in Colombo... :(

[Bubz]

[img]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20100410&t=2&i=89779917&w=460&r=2010-04-10T160947Z_01_BTRE63918WK00_RTROPTP_0_THAILAND[/img]

Smile.

Somebody really loves their job.

[Wakka]

[QUOTE=Bubz;21267836][IMG]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20100410&t=2&i=89779917&w=460&r=2010-04-10T160947Z_01_BTRE63918WK00_RTROPTP_0_THAILAND[/IMG]

Smile.

Somebody really loves their job.[/QUOTE]

:D

[aznz888]

thats fucked up

[JDK721]

Are the military and police okay?

[Wakka]

[QUOTE=JDK721;21267927]Are the military and police okay?[/QUOTE]
Watch the video. It's kind of fucked up.

They're so peaceful.

[wsinw]

One Japanese Reuters reporter died of a gunshot to the chest, including 4-6 other Thai redshirts/soldiers.

Oh and the red-shirts were stupid enough to decide to release balloons and throw rocks at a fucking army helicopter. But one lucky bastard shot a soldier on-board in the thigh.

All Taksin has to do is admit that he wants to remove the Royal Family. I'm sure at least 90% of the protesters will stop, Thai people love their king.

[MercZ]

Redshirts are showing the yellow shirts (the ones who threw out Thaksin) their shit didn't work. We'll see how this goes.

[Triumph Forks]

[img]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20100410&t=2&i=89779917&w=460&r=2010-04-10T160947Z_01_BTRE63918WK00_RTROPTP_0_THAILAND[/img]

[b]What's the matter? Getting tired?[/b]

[Wakka]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tL0s7ADT11A[/media]

[kellybear]

[QUOTE=Triumph Forks;21268335][img]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20100410&t=2&i=89779917&w=460&r=2010-04-10T160947Z_01_BTRE63918WK00_RTROPTP_0_THAILAND[/img]

[b]What's the matter? Getting tired?[/b][/QUOTE]

Hahahahhahahahahah

That's exactly what I thought, too.

[Fusilero1]

Wow....
I was previously concerned for my relations now but 8 killed and even more violence?
I hope they leave the city before it can get any worse :ohdear:

[lulzbocks]

Wtf? Revolts in two Asian countries at the same time?

[fsTyle]

I really like this pic
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[Wakka]

[release]
[B]BANGKOK — Savage clashes between protesters and Thai soldiers killed at least 18 people and injured hundreds before both sides retreated, no closer to ending a monthlong occupation of parts of the capital by demonstrators demanding new elections. Hopes were expressed for negotiations Sunday.[/B]
Bullet casings, rocks and pools of blood littered the streets where pitched battles raged for hours Saturday. It was the worst violence in Bangkok since more than four dozen people were killed in an antimilitary protest in 1992.
Army troops pulled back and asked protesters to do the same, resulting in an unofficial truce.
Five soldiers and 13 civilians, including a Japanese cameraman for the Thomson Reuters news agency, were killed, according to the government's Erawan emergency center.
Editorials in Bangkok newspapers Sunday called for urgent talks between the government and so-called "Red Shirts" to end the violence, noting that some protest leaders were ready for negotiations.
The violence erupted after security forces tried to push out demonstrators who have camped in parts of the capital for a month, staging disruptive protests demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajva dissolve Parliament and call new elections.
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 on 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.
Saturday's violence and failure to dislodge the protesters are likely to make it harder to end the political deadlock. Previously, both sides had exercised considerable restraint.
Abhisit "failed miserably," said Michael Nelson, a German scholar of Southeast Asian studies working in Bangkok.
Tanet Charoengmuang, a political scientist at Chiang Mai University sympathetic to the Red Shirt's cause, said he expects the fighting will resume because the protesters are unafraid and the government refused to listen to them.
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.
Nelson said he had been hopeful the situation would calm down after the troops pulled back but that Abhisit's TV appearance raised doubts because he seemed "totally defiant."
The army had vowed to clear the protesters out of one of their two bases in Bangkok by nightfall, but the push instead set off street fighting. There was a continuous sound of gunfire and explosions, mostly from Molotov cocktails. After more than two hours of fierce clashes, the soldiers pulled back.
Army spokesman Col. Sansern Kaewkamnerd went on television to ask the protesters to retreat as well. He also accused them of firing live rounds and throwing grenades. An APTN cameraman saw two Red Shirt security guards carrying assault rifles.
At least 825 people were injured, according to the Erawan emergency center. The deaths included Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto, who worked for Thomson Reuters. In a statement, Reuters said he was shot in the chest.
Most of the fighting took place around Democracy Monument, but spread to the Khao San Road area, a favorite of foreign backpackers.
Soldiers made repeated charges to clear the Red Shirts, while some tourists watched. Two protesters and a Buddhist monk with them were badly beaten by soldiers and taken away by ambulance.
A Japanese tourist who was wearing a red shirt was also clubbed by soldiers until bystanders rescued him.
Thai media reported that several soldiers were captured by the protesters. Red Shirts also staged protests in other provinces, seizing the provincial hall in the northern city of Chiang Mai, Thaksin's hometown.
On Friday, the police and army failed to prevent demonstrators from breaking into the compound of a satellite transmission station and briefly restarting a pro-Red Shirt television station that had been shut down by the government under a state of emergency. The humiliating rout raised questions about how much control Abhisit has over the police and army.
Thailand's military has traditionally played a major role in politics, staging almost a score of coups since the country became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
The Red Shirts have a second rally site in the heart of Bangkok's upscale shopping district, and more troops were sent there Saturday as well. The city's elevated mass transit system known as the Skytrain, which runs past that site, stopped running and closed all its stations.
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.
Arrest warrants have been issued for 27 Red Shirt leaders, but none is known to have been taken into custody.
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[Valdor]

[img]http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/media/ALeqM5jXM8NAs6qFc8UAg80Rg6ckPgNJyw?size=l[/img]

This is what I would fear if I was riot control... Just doing your job and they treat you like you are causing the problem :ohdear:

[Arachnidus]

Wow, this is getting nasty.

On that note, they're redshirts, so they're all doomed to be killed off relatively soon.

[Matt]

why they won't use real guns if those red shirts are using them

[Second-gear-of-]

I always think the police should win, no matter what. The cops should have just burnt the building down.

[Xybjj]

-snip-

[HubmaN]

18 have been confirmed killed - the center of the city is still occupied (the fancy-schmancy Centralworld/Paragon/Gaysorn/Chidlom), as well as the democracy monument - but oddly enough I don't think government house.

[editline]05:13AM[/editline]

[QUOTE=NoDachi;21267827]Aww I hope they get their shit together by the summer.

Otherwise I'll have to cross Bangkok off my Asia tour :(

I still remember when I was in Sri Lanka in 2006 when shit hit the fan in Colombo... :([/QUOTE]

Come here for the theatre! Please! We need the cash!

[editline]05:14AM[/editline]

There's been rumblings about "watermelon soldiers" but this quashes that, I suppose. I also read that Khao San is still occupied, which is more hilarious.

[Wakka]

[B]Death toll from Bangkok protests climbs to 20[/B]

[HubmaN]

What the hell, MCOT has a twitter?

[editline]08:39AM[/editline]

I'm actually quite glad for the protests, though - there's an interesting editorial in the Bangkok Post that says that protests like these do mean an end to what the author thought was "representation by ignoring".

[BloodYScar]

[QUOTE=Valdor;21278770]
This is what I would fear if I was riot control... Just doing your job and they treat you like you are causing the problem :ohdear:[/QUOTE]

I dont know if this is sarcasm or extreme stupidity...

Whenever there is a riot I feel all warm inside :) People standing up and they have the damn right to.
And at the same time I cant understand those cops fighting to keep the order up even though they see that so many people dont want to live like that.

[Raiskauskone]

[img]http://www.reuters.com/resources/r/?m=02&d=20100410&t=2&i=89683483&w=460&r=2010-04-10T103939Z_01_BTRE6390ROC00_RTROPTP_0_THAILAND[/img]

soldier in the middle

[wsinw]

[QUOTE=BloodYScar;21283272]I dont know if this is sarcasm or extreme stupidity...

Whenever there is a riot I feel all warm inside :) People standing up and they have the damn right to.
And at the same time I cant understand those cops fighting to keep the order up even though they see that so many people dont want to live like that.[/QUOTE]

Except these protesters are trying to remove a PM that hasn't done ANYTHING wrong, as far as a typical citizen like me should know.

They're trying to remove the PM, then exile him out of the country, then modify some laws to get Taksin back here to rule a country that at lest 80% of educated people (the other 20% being corrupted politicians and high-ranked officials) wouldn't want at all. And then what happens next? More protesters will try to remove Taksin.

How to break this unending loop? Just fucking assassinate Taksin and the rest of his family. There have been rumors of him having cancer though. I hope he rots in hell soon.

[abcpea]

they should ban red shirts so this neverh appens again

[editline]10:37PM[/editline]

[URL=http://img256.imageshack.us/i/baaaaaaaa.jpg/][IMG]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/549/baaaaaaaa.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[Raiskauskone]

[QUOTE=abcpea;21285352]they should ban red shirts so this neverh appens again

[editline]10:37PM[/editline]

[URL=http://img256.imageshack.us/i/baaaaaaaa.jpg/][IMG]http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/549/baaaaaaaa.jpg[/IMG][/URL][/QUOTE]

Charging mah lazor?

[Bad)-(and]

hmm, my sister is travelling to thailand is a few weeks. this came at the wrong time.

i'll ask them if they can kill each other later on, after she's gone.