- Title: Thailand marks 10th anniversary of army crackdown on protesters
- Date: 19th May 2020
- Summary: PAYAO SITTING NEXT TO CANDLES AND FLOWERS CANDLES AND FLOWERS (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) MOTHER TO WOMAN KILLED IN PROTEST CRACKDOWN, PAYAO AKKAHAD, SAYING: "I can't change history that my daughter died here at this temple where it should consider as a sanctuary, but it turned out to be a killing field." SIGN READING (Thai): "PATHUM WANARAM TEMPLE" (SOUNDBITE) (Thai) MOTHER TO WOM
- Embargoed: 2nd June 2020 15:42
- Keywords: Bangkok Thailand anniversary democracy politics protest red shirt
- Location: BANGKOK, THAILAND
- City: BANGKOK, THAILAND
- Country: Thailand
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA005CELH3D3
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: EDITOR'S NOTE: FOR FILE FOOTAGE OF CRACKDOWN IN 2010, PLEASE SEE EDIT 7001-THAILAND-POLITICS/RED SHIRT-FILE
EDITORS PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS GRAPHIC MATERIAL IN SHOT 23
Thailand marked the 10th anniversary of a bloody army crackdown on protesters on Tuesday (May 19), while the mother of a nurse killed during the protest continued her call for justice.
Payao Akkahad, whose daughter Kamonkade Akkahad was shot dead along with five other paramedics at Bangkok's Prathum Wanaram temple, laid flowers in front of a photo of her daughter in front of the locked temple gates, with a small sign announcing the grounds were "closed for disinfection".
"My daughter died here at this temple where it should consider as a sanctuary, but it turned out to be killing field," said Phayaw Akahad while sobbing.
The 2010 crackdown was a watershed moment in Thailand's polarized politics that pitted the royalist-military establishment against the "Red Shirt" movement of mostly rural and working-class supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin supporters staged months of at times violent street protests in Bangkok in protest against a court ruling that dissolved a Thaksin-allied party that had won elections in 2008. Those elections restored democracy two years after the army staged a coup to remove Thaksin.
The standoff ended in a military operation that drove the Red Shirts from Bangkok's prominent business and tourism district, killing more than 90 people, mostly civilians, and wounding hundreds.
This year the commemoration took place at Rajprasong intersection where few survivors and protesters were seen lighting candles and chanting.
"If we still do not receive justice, we will be here every year," Anurak Jeantawanich, a Red Shirt supporter who has come to the commemoration every year, said.
(Production: Jiraporn Kuhakan, Peter Brownlie, Aiden Nulty) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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