Last night the Thai army stormed the Red Shirt Protestors camp in central Bangkok to finally bring an end to the political protests. It was an extremely violent end though, with a further 5 people killed including an Italian journalist, plus dozens of people seriously injured.
Red Shirts fleeing the army onslaught set fire to many buildings in the capital throughout the night, as a final shocking statement of protest against the current government. The Thai Stock Exchange, the headquarters of Thai TV Channel 3 (which is currently off air), two shopping centers including the massive Central World center, two banks and many other buildings have all been burned, with Central World now being reported as having been completely destroyed.
Many of the Red Shirt leaders have been caught and arrested, and the protests are now finally over.
Bangkok is now under a night-time curfew every day until further notice.
What an awful, awful series of events.
Update on May 22, 2010 at 12.30 PM: The official total number of casualties from the political protests and military crackdowns has now been given as 85 people killed and 1,378 injured. Absolutely disgraceful! Many of the victims were innocent bystanders! Of course, there'll now be an official inquiry into what happened, but that will really just be a government "whitewash" of the whole affair - no-one in power will get any blame or be punished, only the Red Shirts. The rich and powerful always win here!
Thursday, May 20, 2010
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