Thai Forces Clash With Red Shirt Protesters

Aolnews.com

(April 9) — Thai soldiers and riot police used tear gas and water cannons against anti-government protesters today, marking the first use of force during month-long demonstrations aimed at seeking new elections.

The protesters, known as Red Shirts, climbed over barbed wire barricades and stormed into the compound of a satellite television station that was ordered closed down Thursday as part of a state of emergency declared a day earlier.

The security forces withdrew after the brief clash, which ended with some of those on each side shaking hands and the protesters in control of the compound.

Thai authorities have mobilized thousands more security personnel to contain mass rallies. Here, a Buddhist monk joins protests Friday in central Bangkok.

Officials later announced that the People Channel would return to the air, in what was described as a significant victory for the Red Shirts. Fifteen people were reported injured, including 11 protesters and three soldiers.

Although the protests, now in their 28th day, have shut down large commercial areas of Bangkok since April 3, both sides have clearly been doing their best to avoid direct clashes.

The Red Shirts are demanding new elections after a military coup forced Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra from office in 2006.

Thaksin, a business tycoon who is now a fugitive living in Dubai after being convicted of fraud, was widely supported by people in the mostly rural north of Thailand but opposed by the largely middle class in the capital city of Bangkok.

The protesters are demanding that the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva step down and that new elections be held. Abhisit, who was born in England and attended Oxford University, was elected to office by Parliament after a previous pro-Thaksin government was dissolved by court order on charges of electoral fraud.

To most Red Shirts, Abhisit is seen as representing the country’s elite and a puppet of the military, which has staged a number of coups over the years in Thailand. Abhisit declared the state of emergency after protesters stormed the Parliament building on Wednesday, forcing legislators to flee.

Before the People Channel was closed down, Abhisit repeated his vow not to use force against the demonstrators. « What the government wants is peace and happiness, » he said. « It is the manipulation of information that is creating hate. »

At the satellite station today, about 30 miles north of Bangkok, a Red Shirt leader, Jatuporn Prompan, declared from the back of a truck that led the way into the compound, « We want our TV back. You cannot shut our eyes and ears. »

The channel was turned off after being accused of « distorting information, » government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said.

Protesters clash with troops at Thai satellite TV site+

tncnet.com

BANGKOK, April 10 — (Kyodo) _ (EDS: UPDATING THROUGHOUT) Antigovernment protesters won Friday an initial battle with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva who has banned their satellite television broadcasts.

Some 10,000 protesters thronging an area near the Thaicom satellite ground station outside Bangkok clashed with police and troops in an attempt to force authorities to resume the protesters’ satellite television broadcasts.

The protesters got their satellite TV broadcasts back a few hours after they surged through security lines, despite salvos of tear gas and water cannon from police and antiriot troops, and broke into the buildings of the satellite transmission facility.

But late Friday night Abhisit ordered the authorities to disconnect transmission of People Channel, which has televised protests in central Bangkok since March 12.

Witnesses said protesters were also attacking police and military vehicles in the area and some were attempting to damage equipment inside the ground satellite facilities.

The violence erupted in response to Abhisit’s government on Thursday blacking out People Channel.

Some 20 people were reportedly injured during the clashes. They were sent to nearby hospitals in the province but only six of them including one solider remained hospitalized.

The protestors hurled stones into the lines of antiriot troops at the entrance of the satellite ground station, leaving a correspondent from Japan’s Kyodo News injured in his head.

The protestors also forced troops to disarm. Not many of the troops were carrying firearms. Around 60 tear gas canisters were confiscated from the forces. All the seized arms were laid on a lawn near the building.

Abhisit, appearing on national TV broadcast late Friday night, said he will stop defiant protesters from disturbing peace and order soon. « We will not fail again. » The protesters gathering under the banner of United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship have been encamped along the road leading to Democracy Monument in central Bangkok since March 12, blocking traffic in the Banglampoo area, popular with foreign backpackers.

They advanced their occupation further, to Bangkok’s prime business and shopping streets at Ratchaprasong intersection where posh malls and luxury hotels have been forced to close since April 3.

The protestors have been demanding Abhisit dissolve the House of Representatives and call a national election.

Abhisit’s government has been reluctant to disperse the protesters by force, although it imposed a state of emergency in the capital and surrounding areas on Wednesday.

The premier has repeatedly said he wanted to take all the roads back from the protesters before Thailand’s New Year holidays begin next Tuesday.

The authorities said People Channel must be blacked out since UDD leaders have kept giving distorted information about the protesters and instigated public disorder.

Natthawut Saikua, a UDD leader who led the protesters to raid the Thaicom station, said he will try again to force the government to resume People Channel’s satellite broadcasts anytime soon.

Earlier Friday, the Criminal Court in Bangkok issued arrest warrants for 17 protest leaders, including Natthawut Saikua and Veera Musikapong, on charges of instigating activities that has led to a state of emergency in Thailand.

Police had also sought arrest warrant for Jatuporn Promphan, another leader who is a lawmaker from the opposition Puea Thai Party, but the court turned down the request citing the legislative immunity of the lawmaker.

On Thursday, the court issued arrest warrants for seven other protest leaders, all of whom were involved in a brief raid on Parliament on Wednesday.

They include Arisman Phongruangrong, a former lawmaker of ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra’s now-defunct Thai Rak Thai political party.

But so far, no protest leaders have been arrested.

~ par Alain Bertho sur 10 avril 2010.

Publié dans émeutes, riots