Bangkok a War Zone

DAY OF INFAMY
Central Bangkok a war zone
By Pravit Rojanaphruk
The Nation
Published on April 14, 2009


Central Bangkok a war zone

Festive holiday |is turned into a black nightmare

The bloodstained start to Songkran - which transformed large swathes
of downtown Bangkok into urban guerrilla war zones, leaving dozens of
people wounded - was marked by the first shots around the Din Daeng
triangle before dawn.

Less than an hour later, the crackle of sporadic live gunfire from
soldiers could still be heard, alternating with angry shouts from red-
shirted, anti-government Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship
(DAAD) protesters who refuse to simply retreat.

DAAD leaders claim some red-shirt protesters were killed during the
clashes.

The government has denied a report that officials covered up
protesters' deaths by removing the bodies in a GMC truck. It cited
reports by hospitals that no one receiving treatment for injuries
died.

Everyone, including me, has to run for cover every now and then.

"There can be no end if no one wants to admit defeat," says a
motorcyclist who volunteered to drop this reporter off at the nearby
hotspot. He says he is an off-duty police officer and his wife and
children are among the demonstrators.

Protesters curse the military for firing real, not rubber, M16 bullets
at them. Some were aimed at the sky, others apparently not.

Not everyone is sympathetic with the pro-Thaksin Shinawatra reds,
however.

"They deserve it," says Pairoj Somjaipeng, a cabby in the area who
supports the People's Alliance for Democracy, the nemesis of the reds.

"Last night they carried wooden clubs and other weapons. I think what
the military did was right. And nobody died," he says.

"I want to ask how the reds love the King ... I think they love
Thaksin more," he says, referring to the frequent allegation that the
reds are out to destroy the royal institution.

The military side is led by Lt-Colonel Chinnuphan Rodsiri, who
commands 200 or so troops dispatched from Aranyaprathet on the Thai-
Cambodian border.

A lone monk defies the 200 armed soldiers, stepping out to address
them with a loudspeaker at 6.40am, just a few metres away from the
troops. He urges the soldiers not to shoot at people.

"This area has become lawless," Chinnuphan complains to me. "They shut
the roads down and search people. Even the Asean Summit [last
weekend], which was the face of the country, wasn't spared. Everyone
demands their rights but do not know their responsibilities."

Soon another monk emerges on the other side of the triangle as the
jittery soldiers shout. "How can a monk carry guns" cries one, as the
monk slinks away.

Some distance beyond the front line of soldiers, groups of reds sit in
front of Santiphab Park, or Peace Park. "We only have rocks, bottles
and slingshots," says one. The two bottles nearby are Molotov
cocktails, however.

On the other corner of the triangle, protesters claim they saw a
driver of a bus full of red protesters get shot and collapse while
trying to run over soldiers before dawn.

"Please help us," pleads one lady, in despair. "Please don't allow
them to die in vain."

The reds no longer believe in much of what most of the local media
report, as they are convinced that the media are anti-Thaksin and
conclude that the reports of deaths must have been covered up or
censored.

Protesters here and at other locations appear to be acting at least
semi-independently of the DAAD leaders who are still holding out at
Government House with supporters.

And as the day progresses and more shootings are seen and heard, more
Molotov cocktails are being prepared at various spots.

Public buses were set ablaze at several sites, accompanied by the
sound of M16s firing. At least three LPG gas tankers were commandeered
by protesters by afternoon, but disaster was avoided. The shootings,
clashes and burnings were disastrous enough.

A DAAD leader who asked not to be named tells this writer in the
afternoon that the torching of Bangkok is virtually inevitable. "They
have all the stuff prepared and we can't control them. People died,
but the media censored the fact."

Protesters fight and retreat, soldiers shoot and advance. Victory
Monument was abandoned, Sri Ayutthaya Road retaken, but the protesters
- portrayed by most Thai media as a paid mob - regroup and resist.

Would they have risked their lives for Bt500 or Bt5,000 on Thai New
Year's Day

The skirmishes and retreats and regroupings go on well into the
evening as protesters scatter to some dozen pockets in the 2 or 3
square kilometres of downtown Bangkok.

Most shopping malls shut down on their own.

"This is guerrilla warfare," one foreign journalist tells me as we
watch a scene so surreal, as if it came straight from some apocalyptic
movie. But it was all real.

Some children, oblivious to the chaos falling on the city, are still
seen splashing water as they would on any Songkran.

For many others it was red blood that had splattered, mixed with
tears, irritation, anger, desperation or shock, depending on whom you
ask.


Security Institute of World Politics in DC
www.iwp.edu