These “Red Shirts” are relentless and obviously well organized. Hopefully the government will agree to the peace talks and the conflict will end soon. TGO
Refer to story below. Source: Associated Press
BANGKOK – Thailand’s Red Shirt protest leaders offered Sunday to hold U.N.-mediated peace talks with the government, provided the army ends its crackdown immediately to stop four days of street fighting that has killed 25 people.
No immediate response to the offer came from the government, but it raised a glimmer of hope for ending the escalating violence that 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 Red Shirts have occupied a 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) zone, barricaded by tires and bamboo spikes, in one of the capital’s ritziest areas, Rajprasong, since mid-March to push their demands for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign immediately, dissolve Parliament and call new elections.
Drawn mostly from the rural and urban poor, the Red Shirts say Abhisit’s coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolizes a national elite indifferent to the poor.
A towering column of black smoke rose over the city Sunday as protesters facing off with troops set fire to tires serving as a barricade. Elsewhere, they doused a police traffic post with gasoline and torched it as sporadic gunfire rang out.
“We are willing to negotiate immediately. What’s urgent is to stop the deaths of people. Political goals, political demands, or our fight can wait,” Nattawut Saikua, one of the leaders, told reporters and supporters.
“The government must order a cease-fire and troop withdrawal first, then we will … call back our people who are outside,” he said, referring to hundreds of Red Shirt militants battling Thai troops in the streets of central Bangkok.
Nattawut said the United Nations must serve as a mediator in the talks because “we don’t see any neutral and just organizations.”
At least 54 people have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded since the protests began in March, according to the government. The toll includes 25 killed and 215 injured since Thursday that has turned parts of a city known for its nightlife into an urban war zone.
The offer to negotiate came as the government and the army abandoned a plan to impose a curfew in parts of Bangkok.
“We had a meeting … with various parties concerned and the (government’s) emergency center decided not to announce any curfew at the moment,” said Lt. Gen. Aksara Kerdphol, the army’s assistant chief of staff. “We are still able to control the situation.”
With the Red Shirts’ encampment virtually sealed off by troops who are ringing it in a wide perimeter, the protesters are running out of food and water and other supplies.
On Sunday, their leaders told the women and children among the protesters to move to a Buddhist temple compound within the protest zone. In Thai tradition, temples are considered safe havens and will not be entered by anyone bearing arms.
Somchai and Jintana Sawaaitrakul, holding the hands of their two daughters aged 8 and 6, carried their bags into the Pathumvanaram Temple.
“There were bombs and shooting here and there. We’d rather not stay in the area. One time there was an explosion. I hurriedly took the kids away,” said Somchai. He, however, said the family will not return home until Parliament is dissolved.
A steady stream of families moved into the temple, carrying children and their stuffed toys including teddy bears. Some laid out straw mats on the floor and made themselves comfortable.
“These women are tougher than us men. They are troopers like us. We never intend to use anybody as shields,” said Jatuporn Prompan, another protest leader.
He urged supporters to gather outside the protest zone and wait for word from the leaders to join them.
The government also said it will send Red Cross and other voluntary groups into the protest zone to evacuate women, children, the elderly and the sick.
About 5,000 people are believed camped there, down from about 10,000 before fighting started Thursday after a sniper shot and seriously wounded a Red Shirt leader, a former army general who was their military strategist. His condition worsened Sunday, doctors said.
After his shooting, fighting quickly spread to nearby areas, which became a no-man’s land as the army set up barriers in a wider perimeter around Rajprasong. Red Shirt militants have used mostly firebombs, rocks and fireworks but some have been seen wielding guns.
The troops have fired shotguns, rubber bullets and automatic rifles. In some places, snipers armed have picked their targets through telescopic sights, while perched on tall buildings or positioned behind sandbag bunkers.
The battleground already resembles a curfew zone with no public transport or private vehicles. Most shops, hotels, supermarkets and businesses in the area are shut. The government has shut off power, water and food supplies to the core protest zone.
Schools were ordered shut Monday in all of Bangkok. Long lines formed at supermarkets outside the protest zone as people rushed to stock up on food.
The clashes are the most prolonged and deadliest bout of political violence that Thailand has faced in decades despite having a history of coups — 18 since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
The crisis appeared to be near a resolution last week when Abhisit offered to hold elections in November, a year early. But the hopes were dashed after Red Shirt leaders made more demands.
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Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker, Vijay Joshi, Chris Blake and Denis D. Gray contributed to this report. Additional research by Warangkana Tempati and Sinfah Tunsarawuth.
