Skip to main content

Clashes, blasts rattle besieged Bangkok as 22 dead

Fire of fury: An anti-government protester carries a tire to be burnt as smoke plummets in the streets during a shooting between them and Thai soldiers in Bangkok. Thai troops clashed with protesters for a third day in Bangkok on Saturday. – AP/Wong Maye-E 

Fire of fury: An anti-government protester carries a tire to be burnt as smoke plummets in the streets during a shooting between them and Thai soldiers in Bangkok. Thai troops clashed with protesters for a third day in Bangkok on Saturday. – AP/Wong Maye-E
 Associated Press, Bangkok | Sat, 05/15/2010 8:51 PM | World

Thailand's prime minister struck a defiant tone Saturday on national television, saying his government will not bow to demonstrators demanding his resignation.

Explosions and street fighting have killed 22 people and wounded more than 170 since the government attempted Thursday to seal off a 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) zone the Red Shirt protesters have occupied in one of the capital's most upscale areas.

In his first comments since the latest violence erupted, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva defended the army's actions.

"The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country," he said.

The plan is "to return normalcy with minimum loss" to the Thai capital, he said.

The problem is some "terrorists" have infiltrated the Red Shirt protesters.

"I insist that if we want to see an end to the loss of life, the only way is to have the protesters end their protest," he said.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Iranian Clerics Protest Election Results

By VOA News 05 July 2009 A group of leading Iranian clerics has criticized the results of the country's disputed presidential election. In a statement released Sunday, clerics from the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom said Iran's official electoral watchdog, the Guardian Council, failed to adequately investigate claims of vote rigging by the opposition. The pro-reform group questioned whether the Council's validation is enough to legitimize the vote. Last week, the 12-member Council upheld the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I ranian reformist presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi during a press conference after polls closed in Tehran, 12 June 2009 Defeated presidential candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi has criticized the outcome. In a 24-page report posted to his Web site Saturday, Mr. Mousavi accuses supporters of Mr. Ahmadinejad of handing out cash to voters in the run-up to...
Post a Comment
Read more

Military chief promotes 35 generals

Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Djoko Santoso has promoted 35 generals, consisting of 16 army generals, 11 navy admirals and 8 air force marshals. “It is expected that this time promotion will further enhance and improve the military performance so that we could give out the best output,” he said on Friday. Among those generals who receive the promotion is Rear Adm. Gunadi who is now posted as inspector general at the Defense Ministry, Maj. Gen. Langgeng Sulistyono, who is now posted as Diponegoro Military Commander and Rear Marshal Agus Dwi Putranto, who is installed as Abdulrahman Saleh Air Force Base Commander.
Post a Comment
Read more

Chinese

Identifying someone in Indonesia as a member of the Chinese ( orang Tionghoa ) ethnic group is not an easy matter, because physical characteristics, language, name, geographical location, and life-style of Chinese Indonesians are not always distinct from those of the rest of the population. Census figures do not record Chinese as a special group, and there are no simple racial criteria for membership in this group. There are some people who are considered Chinese by themselves and others, despite generations of intermarriage with the local population, resulting in offspring who are less than one-quarter Chinese in ancestry. On the other hand, there are some people who by ancestry could be considered halfChinese or more, but who regard themselves as fully Indonesian. Furthermore, many people who identify themselves as Chinese Indonesians cannot read or write the Chinese language. Alth...
Post a Comment
Read more