Bangkok battle
Tensions in Thailand’s capital were at boiling point last night after troops opened fire on ‘Red Shirt’ protesters during a confrontation on a highway in Bangkok’s suburbs that left one soldier dead and 18 people hurt.
The demonstrators hurled rocks at soldiers and police who had blocked their convoy on a road heading out of the city centre.
Troops responded by firing into the air and directly at the Red Shirts as the stand-off between the two sides spilled over from the protesters’ fortified rally base in the capital.
Officials said earlier police and soldiers had fired warning shots.
One soldier died instantly from a gunshot wound to the head during the clashes.
The Reds - who want immediate elections to replace Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s government - accused troops of using “war weapons” against them and said the soldier was a victim of friendly fire.
“He was shot by people on the same side as him,” protest leader Jatuporn Prompan said.
The clashes erupted in capital near Bangkok’s number two airport, Don Mueang International.
About 2,000 protesters had earlier moved out of their sprawling rally site in pick-up trucks and on motor-cycles to travel to the north of the capital, which is under a state of emergency. “It looks like a war.
They are fighting with unarmed people,” said another of the Reds protest leaders Nattawut Saikuar.
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