Thai protesters reject talks after deadly clashes

Anti-government protesters dug into their encampments around Bangkok and rejected talk of negotiations today after a month-long stand-off escalated into clashes that killed 20 people in Thailand’s worst political violence in nearly two decades.

Bullet casings, rocks and pools of blood littered the streets near a main tourist area where soldiers had tried to clear the protesters, who are demanding that the prime minister dissolve parliament and call early elections.

Foreign governments issued warnings for citizens visiting Thailand, where tourism is a lifeblood industry.

Today, protesters showed off a pile of weapons they had captured from the troops, including rifles and machine gun rounds. The demonstrators also captured several Thai soldiers who were later released.

Jatuporn Prompan, a leader of the Red Shirt movement that contends the current government is illegitimate because it does not reflect results of the last elections, said Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s hands were “bloodied”.

“There is no more negotiation. Red Shirts will never negotiate with murderers,” Mr Jatuporn announced from a makeshift stage. “Although the road is rough and full of obstacles, it’s our duty to honour the dead by bringing democracy to this country.”

Another protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told reporters that funeral rites would be held this evening for 14 dead protesters near where they fell, and that their bodies would be paraded through Bangkok on Monday.

Government forces last night moved into a protester-occupied area around Bangkok’s Democracy Monument, near the backpacker mecca of Khao San Road. The push instead set off street fighting. There was a continuous sound of gunfire and explosions, mostly from Molotov cocktails, for more than two hours.

Soldiers made repeated charges to clear the Red Shirts, while some tourists watched. Two protesters and a Buddhist monk with them were badly beaten by soldiers and taken away by ambulance.

A Japanese tourist who was wearing a red shirt was also clubbed by soldiers until bystanders rescued him.

Army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd accused protesters of firing live rounds and throwing grenades. An APTN cameraman saw two Red Shirt security guards carrying assault rifles.

Four soldiers and 16 civilians were killed, according to the government’s Erawan emergency centre. The protesters said 14 of their number had been killed.

At least 834 people were injured, according to the emergency centre. The deaths included Japanese cameraman Hiro Muramoto, who worked for the Thomson Reuters news agency. In a statement, Reuters said he was shot in the chest and the circumstances of his death were under review.

It was the worst violence in Bangkok since four dozen people were killed in a 1992 anti-military protest. Late yesterday, army troops pulled back and asked protesters to do the same, resulting in an unofficial truce.

South Korea urged its nationals today to avoid visiting Bangkok. Australia warned its citizens of a “strong possibility of further violence” and foreign minister Stephen Smith told tourists to avoid the protests in an update to the travel advice for the country.

The US State Department has not updated a travel alert issued last week when a state of emergency was imposed that advises citizens to be careful when visiting the Thai capital.

The demonstrations are part of a long-running battle between the mostly poor and rural supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the ruling elite they say orchestrated the 2006 military coup that removed him from power amid corruption allegations.

The Red Shirts, whose name comes from their garb, see the Oxford-educated Mr Abhisit as a symbol of an elite impervious to the plight of Thailand’s poor and claim he took office illegitimately in December 2008 after the military pressured parliament to vote for him. Mr Thaksin’s allies had won elections in 2007 but court rulings removed two governments on charges of conflict of interest and vote-buying.

Yesterday’s violence and the failure to dislodge the protesters are likely to make it harder to end the political deadlock.

Mr Abhisit “failed miserably”, said Michael Nelson, a German scholar of South East Asian studies working in Bangkok.

Mr Abhisit went on national television shortly before midnight to pay condolences to the families of victims and indirectly assert that he would not bow to the protesters’ demands.

“The government and I are still responsible for easing the situation and trying to bring peace and order to the country,” Mr Abhisit said.

Army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said 28 soldiers had been captured by the Red Shirts but all but four managed to escape. Reporters today saw the four being released.

Mr Abhisit declared a state of emergency on Wednesday night after protesters briefly broke into parliament and forced politicians to flee on ladders over a back wall, with senior officials hastily evacuated by helicopter.

Authorities’ repeated failure to clear the protest sites raised questions about how much control Mr Abhisit has over the police and army. Arrest warrants have been issued for 27 Red Shirt leaders, but none is known to have been taken into custody.

The Red Shirts have a second rally site in the heart of Bangkok’s upscale shopping district, where they remained today even after more troops were sent there yesterday. The city’s elevated mass transit system known as the Skytrain, which runs past the site, stopped running and closed some of its stations for the second day today.

Merchants say the demonstrations have cost them hundreds of millions of baht and luxury hotels near the site have been under virtual siege.