THAILAND/FILE: Red shirt protesters converge on centre of Bangkok to mark anniversary of last year's violent crackdown

Record ID: 644182

  • Title: THAILAND/FILE: Red shirt protesters converge on centre of Bangkok to mark anniversary of last year's violent crackdown
  • Date: 20th May 2011
  • Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (FILE - MAY 19, 2011) (REUTERS) SKYLINE WITH SMOKE RISING IN THE PROTEST AREA VARIOUS OF ARMOURED PERSONNEL CARRIER DRIVING THROUGH BARRICADE WITH SOLDIERS IN THE BACK OF THE VEHICLE VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS ADVANCING INTO THE PROTESTERS SITE SOLDIERS CONTROLLING AREA AND MAKING ARREST OF PROTESTER
  • Embargoed: 4th June 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Thailand
  • Country: Thailand
  • Topics: Domestic Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA6ET4PLTXN224RISCM705WKDKZ
  • Story Text: Thousands of red shirts gathered in the centre of Bangkok on Thursday (May 19) to mark the first anniversary of last year's military crackdown that killed 91 people, including foreign journalists.
    The protesters converged on the Ratchaprasong intersection of the Thai capital to remember the dead.
    "You (the victims) would die for the plight of humanity. You are greater than those who killed you to protect their power," said Nattawut Saikuea (pron: nat-ta-wut sai-kuea), one of the red shirt's main leaders.
    A towering 30-metre wall of corrugated iron masks the remnants of a mysterious arson attack on Southeast Asia's second-biggest mall a year ago that has come to symbolise Thailand's political crisis and signal possible trouble ahead during elections.
    But a year later, mystery clouds who set the fire on May 19, 2010, when the military used force to break up a makeshift encampment next to the shopping plaza where tens of thousands of red-shirted protesters had called for fresh elections.
    While the government blames the red shirts for the attack on Central World, the sophistication of the destruction and photographs showing armed men in the building before the fire have raised questions of whether the military-backed government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva had a hand in the arson.
    As Thailand braces for national elections, investigations into the fire and the 91 deaths have made little headway, giving political fodder to the opposition Puea Thai Party, led Yingluck Shinawatra, whose support appears to be gathering momentum.
    One red shirt leader announced on stage that the July election is a competition between Puea Thai, supported by redshirt group and Democrat party who they accused of being brought to power by the military.
    "The fight in this election arena is the battle between democracy and dictatorship," said Veera Musikapong (pron: vee-ra mu-si-ka-bong), one of red shirt leaders.
    With rivalry fierce between Thailand's political camps, many fear the election result will be contested, or powerful forces might seek to manipulate the formation of a new government, which is widely expected to be a coalition.
    The biggest risk, analysts say, is that a perceived lack of justice could ignite another round of instability in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy, one of the region's most attractive destinations for foreign tourists and investors.
    Police probes and a state investigation into the violence are largely inconclusive and tainted by allegations of political interference, while fact-finding panels have failed to unearth what exactly happened.
    The shopping plaza, one of 39 buildings set on fire on May 19, 2010, after the military clashed with protesters, was the perfect target for the disenfranchised red shirts, disdainful of what they say is a Thai elite monopoly of wealth and political power.
    Blame was widely apportioned to the red shirts, but hard evidence is limited and conspiracy theories abound about the motives and identities of the culprits.
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