Wednesday, April 28, 2010
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai troops fired into the air near a convoy of anti-government protesters on Wednesday in an attempt to halt their convoy after they left their central Bangkok encampment for a "mobile rally", a Reuters witness said.
World|ThailandAbout 450 soldiers and policemen had set up a checkpoint near the old international airport on a highway in Bangkok's northern suburbs, and some of them fired into the air with automatic weapons and shotguns.Some riot police, with batons and shields, were seen charging toward the convoy in the midst of heavy traffic on the highway.Witnesses said troops also fired rubber bullets at the protesters.About 1,000 protesters, honking horns and singing on the back of their pick-up trucks and motorcycles, left their fortified base by a road near the business district on Wednesday morning, heading for a market 50 km (30 miles) away.Riot police and troops did not try to stop them initially and several thousand remained behind at their encampment in a ritzy shopping district in central Bangkok that they have occupied for the past seven weeks.At one point, the convoy passed three soldiers carrying shields and batons who were stationed in a tent outside an army base. They!
ran into the base as protesters shouted "get out" behind them.The fresh produce market is on a main highway north of the capital where "red shirt" supporters had gathered earlier in the week to prevent troops and police from reinforcing their presence in the city.On stage at their encampment in central Bangkok, red shirt leaders called on their supporters at the market to come to the aid of the embattled convoy near the airport, a Reuters reporter said.Thailand's stock index was down 0.6 percent at 757.25 at 12:27 a.m. ET on Wednesday as the country's political crisis outweighed good quarterly results. The index has lost 3.30 pct so far in April, when the protests turned violent, versus a 1.8 rise in Asian markets outside of Japan.The mostly rural and urban poor red shirts inflicted traffic chaos in Bangkok on Tuesday by stacking tires on the elevated platform of a commuter train station by their protest site, worried troops would use Bangkok's Skytrain to attack them from!
above.The red shirts set out gas cooking canisters along thei!
r three-
meter high barricade on the edge of the Silom business district overnight, a Reuters reporter said. The medieval-like barriers have been doused with fuel so they can be turned into a wall of fire should security forces try an assault.Behind the barricades are men in helmets with sharpened spears who have mounds of broken bricks and rocks to hurl at any invaders.Troop movements were reported in central areas of Bangkok late on Tuesday and army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said some were "training" for an eventual dispersal of the protesters."We are maintaining checkpoints at several places as well to check for arms and prevent more people from going in to gather," he said.The red shirts had in turn mobilized to prevent troops moving on main roads into Bangkok and in some northern provinces.POLITICAL SOLUTIONHopes for a negotiated end to the crisis, in which 26 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, were dashed at the weekend when Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rejec!
ted a proposal by the protesters for an election in three months.Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuangsuban said the security forces would stop protesters moving around in defiance of a state of emergency. "It is clear the protesters are not gathering peacefully. We will not be lenient with these people any more."However, Abhisit struck a more conciliatory note in an interview with CNN television."We will try to enforce the law with minimum losses and we will try to find a political resolution," he said. "But it takes time, patience and cooperation."Many in the army, which led a failed operation against a red-shirt rally on April 10 when 25 people were killed and 800 wounded, do not want to be dragged into battle with civilians.Adding to the volatile mix, groups opposed to the red shirts -- and the loss to business and livelihoods the protests have caused in Bangkok -- have held rallies in the capital and want to see the red shirt encampment broken up.The red shirts back ex-p!
remier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup, and say Abhi!
sit came
to power illegitimately.Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon revered by the poor and reviled by Bangkok's elite, was convicted in absentia on corruption-related charges and lives abroad to avoid jail.Analysts say the deadlock and a possible deterioration in law and order could continue for weeks, damaging Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy, with consumer confidence flagging and the tourist industry suffering, especially in the capital.If the protests drag on for three months, it could shave 0.64 percentage point off Thailand's 2010 economic growth forecast of 4.5 percent, the government has said. (Additional reporting by Chalathip Thirasoonthrakul, Ambika Ahuja, Martin Petty, Sukree Sukplang; Writing by Bill Tarrant; Editing by Alan Raybould)
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Thailand
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