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Besieged in Bangkok: The Continuing Red Shirt Revolt

The outside of the Red Shirts' 3.5 sq km barricaded zone. (Image: Richard S. Ehrlich)

Binoy Kampmark writes that the situation in Bangkok is escalating after Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva withdrew an earlier offer to hold elections later this year. The set date – November 14 – has now been abandoned. The plot thickens as the Red Shirt protesters are gathering force, implementing diversionary tactics on security forces and issuing more demands. It has attracted an assortment of followers, among them the renegade army general Seh Daeng (Khattiya Sawasdipol). Not lacking enthusiasm, he boasted about how he managed to repel the government forces at various stages of the siege. ‘Our tactics are better than the governments,’ he beamed in confidence to Mark MacKinnon of the Globe and Mail (May 14). The wounded general is now fighting for his life, having received a shot to the head while talking to foreign reporters outside the besieged camp. More >>

ALSO:

• MFAT - Thailand: Temporary closure of the NZ Embassy
• New Zealand Labour Party - Carter urges Govt to contact Kiwis in Thailand
• TV3 Video - Bangkok now extreme risk, Kiwis warned to get out - Kiwi injured in Bangkok fighting - Thai Red Shirt offers ceasefire as deadline passes - Thai govt rejects talks, defends deadly crackdown - Thai PM defends crackdown as death toll rises - Bangkok battle: troops fire on rioting protesters

Earlier - from Richard S. Ehrlich:

• Two Faces Appear Behind Bangkok's Bamboo Barricade
• "Seh Daeng" Denies Leading a Death Squad
• Finding "Terrorists" in the Thai "Banana Republic"

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