Gun Battle in Bangkok Escalates (17)
Well, I guess Bangkok certainly will not be boring ...
Gun Battle in Bangkok Escalates
By THOMAS FULLER
FEB. 1, 2014 (New York Times)
BANGKOK — At least six people were injured Saturday in a prolonged daylight gun battle between protesters seeking to block the distribution of ballots in Bangkok and would-be voters demanding that protesters cease their attempts to obstruct national elections on Sunday.
After three months of a provocative campaign by protesters to overthrow the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the clash on Saturday appeared to crystallize the power struggle that has been playing out on the streets of Bangkok.
Ignoring pleas by the United States and the European Union to respect the democratic process — and stoking the anger of many Thais eager to vote — the protesters have blocked the distribution of ballots in parts of Bangkok and southern Thailand, a stronghold of the opposition.
The shooting on Saturday raised fears about further violence during Sunday’s general election, when protesters say they plan to fill the streets and prevent voters from reaching polling stations.
James Nachtwey, an American photojournalist who suffered a minor gunshot wound to his leg during Saturday’s clashes, said shooting was coming from both sides.
Despite repeated claims by the protest leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, that his movement is fighting “without weapons,” photos and video images of the clashes showed protesters firing a variety of guns.
“It was bullets flying in a very modern, contemporary part of the city,” Mr. Nachtwey said. Like the political violence of 2010 in the heart of cosmopolitan Bangkok, Mr. Nachtwey said, Saturday’s gunfight was “definitely incongruous.”
Mr. Nachtwey said a bullet punctured his trousers but only grazed his shin.
What began as a protest three months ago against a push by the governing Pheu Thai party to grant amnesty to its former leader has evolved into a full-blown effort by protesters and their wealthy backers to block elections that, by their own admission, they seem sure to lose.
Although they represent a minority of the Thai population of 65 million people, the protesters number in the hundreds of thousands in Bangkok and say they are a vanguard of a social movement to reform Thailand’s democracy. To do so, however, they say they need to suspend democracy and place the country in the hands of an unelected “people’s council” while changes are made.
The protesters oppose the dominance of the governing party and its de facto leader, Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire tycoon who is Ms. Yingluck’s brother. (The amnesty bill would have benefited Mr. Thaksin, clearing what he says were politically motivated corruption charges and allowing him to return home from self-imposed exile.)
Critics of Mr. Abhisit, a former prime minister who has been charged with murder for a 2010 crackdown on pro-Thaksin demonstrators, say the party is boycotting the election because it is seeking to gain power by extra-constitutional means and relying on support within the county’s military establishment and elites.
Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, an election commissioner whom the governing party accuses of siding with the protest movement, said on Thai television Saturday that local election officials had quit their posts in southern Thailand, making it likely that a number of polling stations there would be closed.
“Anything can happen,” Mr. Somchai said.
I'm ready cmdeal
Elections will be over soon... let's not get crazy. More people get shot in Vegas every day and those meet-ups do just fine. We'll be safe.
STM Bandanas?
Anyone running offers for bulletproof vests?
your demo would be STMer ?
Business as usual here in BKK. Nothing to worry about.
Originally Posted by ericsan77
We have a friend at the Bangkok paper as well who says the same thing, but the more we here it the better it makes us feel everything will be A-OK!
Send us any info we should know about
Just a quick update to let everyone know that it's still very much safe in BKK these days. Most of the protest sites have been dismantled. Still some protests and a few incidents but nothing major.
Merci!
Excellent!
Can someone residing in Bangkok update us on the situation there?
Been talking to a few people in Thailand, it's pretty calm for the most part. They dispatched police to the city, which could calm things further or escalate, but overall the protests aren't any more serious then they were weeks ago.
Luckily we're moving everything to Koh Samui after 3 days eitherway 
Everything is nice and calm here in Bangkok. the traffic is more dangerous than these protests.
cmdeal is scare mongering haha 
2 killed, 22 injured at Ratchaprasong
Dafuq is going on over there? Who's there already?
Jaimmie from F5media who will be helping run a lot of this Bangkok trip lived in Rwanda for 6 months, we have a fearless leader with us who faces danger head on. #nothingtofear
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