Thai Army storms Red Shirt encampment and arrests protest leaders
Downtown Bangkok became a raging battleground as the
Thai army stormed a barricaded protest camp and the
Red Shirt leadership surrendered, enraging demonstrators who fired grenades and set fires that cloaked the skyline in a black haze.
The army used armoured trucks to bulldoze the barricades that have, for over two months, been the un-breached walls of the Red Shirt's central headquarters.
The
Thai government declared a curfew in Bangkok from 8 p.m. until
6 a.m. An announcement signed by
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and broadcast on television banned anyone from leaving home during those times without permission from authorities.
At least two protesters and an
Italian news photographer were killed in this army crackdown. Three other foreign journalists and 15
Thais were wounded in the fighting.
The Red Shirt leadership surrendered to authorities and the army declared itself in full control, but fresh violence soon erupted across central Bangkok and unrest boiled over in the northeastern countryside.
Protesters also turned their rage on the local media, which they have accused of biased coverage toward the government. Groups of rioters attacked the offices of state-run
Channel 3 TV, where they set fires to cars parked outside, punctured water pipes that caused flooding and entered the building.
The Bangkok Post newspaper evacuated its staff after threats from the
Red Shirts. An an hour later, Channel 3 stopped broadcasting.
Seven top Red Shirt leaders turned themselves in. A government spokesman declared the first stage of army operations successful.
http://uk.asiancorrespondent.com/video/thai-army-storms-red-shirt-encampme
.htm