Thai protesters storm hospital

A THAI hospital had to evacuate hundreds of patients yesterday after anti-government protesters stormed in to hunt for security forces they suspected were hiding inside.

A group of Red Shirts barged into Bangkok’s Chulalongkorn Hospital despite pleas from its director, then withdrew after failing to find soldiers or police within the sprawling compound.

The brief raid was a public relations error for the Red Shirts, who insist they are simply peaceful protesters trying to overthrow a government they see as illegitimate – although the seven-week stand-off in the capital has already sparked the country’s worst political violence in nearly 20 years.

Protest leaders struggled to make amends for the hospital raid, apologising, promising to leave the facility alone and removing some of the barricades blocking it as a gesture of contrition.

But the Red Shirts later put the barricades back in place and missed a meeting with hospital administrators to discuss how to keep the patients and staff safe.