Bangkok became a battle zone yesterday as everyone knew it would, when the Thai army stormed the barricades of the fortified encampment of anti-government protesters. Heavy and, at times, indiscriminate gunfire produced scenes of chaos. Protest leaders surrendered and implored their supporters to give up and go home, to prevent a bloodbath, but soon lost control.
Militants on the losing side, some of them armed, vented their rage by torching the stock exchange, banks, a department store complex, two pro-government newspapers and a television station. A negotiated settlement between the government and red-shirt protesters had almost been reached last week, but it was rejected in the same way in which the government turned down a further attempt at mediation this week. The bloody scenes yesterday made a nonsense of the government's claim that they were prepared to talk to the red-shirts after the camp had been cleared. It was total defeat for those who had paralysed the centre of Bangkok for six weeks and it is difficult to see what dialogue could now follow. Once a key military adviser to the red-shirts, the renegade general Khattiya Sawasdipol had been killed by a sniper on Monday, there was a sickening sense of inevitability about the final showdown. The military's show of force can only have deepened the tension between the two political camps.
Read Full Article »