The dangers of Bangkok

Songkran Festival, Thailand’s traditional New Year, is the most important festival for the Thai people, and should have been celebrated with dancing, singing, parades and the well-known "water splashing." However, closed stores and weary residents are all that one encountered this time when walking around the once bustling tourism hub in Southeast Asia.

The reason is all too clear: Thailand, described by numerous tourists and traveller manuals as the Land of Smiles, is now caught in a sad divide between its government and the "red shirt" people, protestors who demand the current government be dissolved and fresh elections held.

Since March 26, a large number — estimates vary from 250,000 to 25,000 — of "red shirt" people have besieged the prime minister’s office in central Bangkok. They set up tents, where they slept, talked and even had meals prepared. All they wanted, they said, was to press incumbent Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down and for his government to take responsibility for the casualties sustained when the army, trying to disperse the demonstrators at the prime minister’s office, clashed with the protestors.

The red shirt people and the government gave conflicting reports on the number of casualties. According to Jaran Ditapichai, a leader from the "red shirt" camp, at least six protestors were killed during last Friday morning’s conflict. The government said there were about 74 wounded, and 24 in severe condition.

The clash came only two days after the red shirt protestors disrupted the 14th ASEAN and related summits in Pattaya of central Thailand, forcing the government to impose a state of emergency in a last-ditch bid to restore order.

The conflict sent tourists fleeing back home, and some countries and regions, such as Canada, Australia, Russia and Hong Kong, have issued warnings against travel to Bangkok and Thailand. This will affect tourism, a major source of foreign currency in Thailand, which has already been reeling from the cancellation of the ASEAN summits.

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva reiterated Sunday that no protestors were killed last week in a crackdown on a violent anti-government demonstration in the streets of Bangkok, but said he would look into claims of casualties.

Abhisit said that if there is a solid proof the military shot protestors on April 13, the government is ready to consider the charges, the state-run Thai News Agency reported.

Abhisit acknowledged soldiers fired bullets into the air to suppress the rioters.

An opinion poll of 1,439 households in 17 of Thailand’s 76 provinces conducted by Assumption University’s Abac Poll revealed that 74.9 per cent of respondents believed the government was transparent in its attempt to disperse the protesters last week.