Thaksin becomes desperate
THAKSIN ON BBC LIVE NOW (7:05 pm)
Ex Prime Minister Thaksin(Thaksin is in hiding from a two-year jail term for corruption) sounded like a rambling raving delusional despot in bunker… Stammering, accusing and appearing slightly frantic.
The female interviewer from the BBC studio looked perplexed at Mr Thaksin’s initial statements and slightly disturbed and bemused as the interview continued…
The up-shot is, Mr Thaksin via almost incoherent babble blames the Government ‘for starting it’ and accuses the Military whom he stammered ‘killed many people today’.
Thai PBS reports 94 people injured from the government’s crackdown on the protesters. The doctors confirm there are no dead victims. The patients were sent to five hospitals including Rama, Phra Mongkut and Rajviti.
The station interviewed a doctor who is in charge and the report says 24 people are in serious conditions. The majority of injured people have gone home.
Many Bangkok Residents start to battle the red shirts as they become fed up with their antics or their interference with their Thai New Year Celebrations.
TNN channel reports a clash between people celebrating Songkran and the Redshirted protesters near Petchburi Soi 7.
Residents near Soamanas Temple battle red-shirts and local residents at Yommaraj, Nang Lerng intersections battle red-shirts
Onlookers cheer the success of the troops as they move the protesters along.
All this is not about democracy but about Some $2.2 billion in funds belonging to Thaksin and his family have been frozen by the Thai government and after Songran (Thai New Year ) the court case starts to see if he can have them back.
Former Senate speaker Suchon Chaleekrua led a group of former senators to file a petition, seeking His Majesty’s intervention to end the political violence.
He filed the petition at the Royal Household Bureau to Intharachan Buraphan, deputy secretary-general of the bureau.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s revered 81-year-old King Bhumibol Adulyadej, whose word is taken as law, has thus far remained silent in his seaside palace in Hua Hin.
Chaiyasit Shinawatra says he has nothing to do with rioters’ today traffic blockade by gas tanks
Thai News Bureau (approx 9:15 pm)
Former Supreme Commander Chaiyasit Shinawatra dismissed Deputy Government Spokesperson Suppachai Jaisamut’s accusation that he cooperated with the red-shirt demonstrators to take two gas tanker trucks to blockade traffic on the roads in downtown Bangkok.
Former Supreme Commander Chaiyasit said he had nothing to do with the recent incident, although as Chairman of Siamgas and Petrochemicals Public Company Limited, he could order such malfeasance. He, at the same time, urged Mr. Suppachai to take responsibility for his groundless accusation.
The two gas tanker trucks were brought by protesters and parked in congested areas of Bangkok, with the overhanging threats of major gas blasts that sent chills through the people’s spine for the whole day. The trucks were later safely removed from the protest scenes.
Troops regain control of seized roads
Bangkok Post
An uneasy calm returned to Bangkok after red-shirt protesters were forcibly dispersed by troops on Monday and retreated to their base in front of Government House, where they said would make a final stand.
The army regained control of all the main road intersections seized by supporters of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) in their attempt to cause traffic chaos and bring down the government.
Police and military sources said soldiers had dispersed the protesters from Victory Monument, Ratchathewi road, Din Daeng intersection and a long stretch of Vibhavadi Rangsit highway from Din Daeng to Lat Phrao intersection.
The debris left by the protesters, which included burned car tires and torched public buses, would have to be cleared before all roads in these areas were reopened to normal traffic.
At least 30 public buses belonging to the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA) were hijacked by the protesters and used to block traffic and slow the advance of the troops.
About 10 were torched as the military moved to break up the protests.
Bus services in the inner city were suspended most of the day as the BMTA feared more would be taken over by UDD followers.
Train services out of Hua Lampong station, the city’s major terminal, were also suspended, with provincial services leaving from Bang Sue for the North and Northeast and Makkasan for the South. About 20,000 commuters were reported to have been affected.
The dispersed protesters mostly obeyed instructions to regroup at Government House, where several thousand protesters have been camping since March 26, when the followers of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra began their latest push to topple the government.
With the recapture of the city’s major intersections, a nervous peace settled over the capital as night settled in.
A minor clash was reported at the army headquarters on Ratchadamnoen road when hardcore protesters lobbed several petrol bombs into the grounds.
Army spokesman Col Sansern Kaewkamnoed denied claims spread by the red-shirts that a handful of protesters were shot dead by soldiers during the pre-dawn clashes at Din Daeng.
He said troops fired only blanks on that occasion, with wads of paper replacing the bullets. They were not lethal but might cause very minor injury up close.
The government announced about 70 people were injured in the early morning clashes, including 23 soldiers. Most of those treated were suffering the effects of teargas. The prime minister said four soldiers had bullet wounds.
The government, health officials and the military insisted there were no fatalities among the protesters.
Informed sources said troops might try to break up the main protest at Government House before dawn on Tuesday to ensure peace and order was restored in the city before business resumes after the long Songkran holiday ends on Wednesday night.
Protesters who are not totally committed supporters of the UDD were advised by the government to leave the protest site and return to their homes.
Red-shirted protesters raid Nang Lerng Market
The Nation (approx 9:45 pm)
Red-shirted protesters entered Nang Lerng Market Monday evening and pushed the vendors outside.
The protesters also clashed with the vendors and it is speculated that the protesters would set fire to the market and burn it to the ground.
One shot dead by red-shirted protesters
The Nation (approx 9:53 pm)
Red-shirted protesters shot a person dead and injured two others when residents of the Nang Lerng Market came out to criticise the protesters, PM’s Office Satit Wongnontaey said.
Satit told Channel 11 that the protesters shot at three people and one was killed while the two others were injured.
This is the same market area where people tried to get the reds to stop burning tires in the street earlier (and ended up getting attacked for their civic efforts).
Shooting occurs near Wat Soamanus community
The Nation (approx 10:30)
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said late Monday night shootings had occurred at the Wat Soamanus community.
It was not clear which side opened fire.
Death toll at Nang Lerng Market clash rises to 2
The Nation (approx 11:15 pm)
Bangkok Medical Department chief Phetpong Kamchornkijkarn said late Monday night that two persons were killed during the clash between vendors of Nang Lerng Market and red-shirted people.
They were identified as Pom Pholphanbua, 50, and Yupha Wisetphanit, 19.
Nine vendors were also injured. Six of them were sent to the Hua Chiew Hospital and three to Central Hospital.