A series of political protests were organised by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) (also known as "Red Shirts") in Bangkok, Thailand from 12 March to 19 May 2010 against the Democrat Party-led government. The UDD called for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and hold elections earlier than the end of term elections scheduled in 2012. The UDD demanded that the government stand down, but negotiations to set an election date failed. The protests escalated into prolonged violent confrontations between the protesters and the military, and attempts to negotiate a ceasefire failed. More than 80 civilians and six soldiers were killed, and more than 2,100 injured by the time the military violently put down the protest on 19 May.
Overview Popular opposition to Abhisit Vejjajiva's government rose throughout 2009, due to the controversial 2008 "judicial coup" that banned the Palang Prachachon Party and "silent coup" that allowed the Democrats to form a coalition government. In February 2010, Abhisit tightened security in anticipation of the Supreme Court's ruling to seize former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's bank accounts, frozen since the 2006 military coup. The UDD did not protest, but announced protests on 14 March in Bangkok to call for new elections. Abhisit further tightened security. Censorship was heightened, and radio, TV stations and websites sympathetic to the UDD were closed.
Estimates of the number of protesters on 14 March ranged from 50,000 (by the government) to 300,000 (by the UDD). At the beginning, protests were mostly peaceful, and initially centred at Phan Fa Lilat Bridge. Many protesters came from outside Bangkok, including from numerous provinces in the North and Northeast. After initial UDD unilateral demands for an early election were unsuccessful, dozens of M79 grenade attacks occurred far from Phan Fa, but there were no injuries and no arrests. In April, protesters shifted to Ratchaprasong intersection. A state of emergency was declared in Bangkok on 8 April, banning political assemblies of more than five persons. On 10 April, troops unsuccessfully cracked down at Phan Fa, resulting in 24 deaths, including a Japanese journalist and five soldiers, and more than 800 injuries. The Thai media called the crackdown "Cruel April" ().บ้านเมือง, สะเก็ดการเมือง: หมอพรทิพย์ ลุยสอบเมษาโหด , 23 เมษายน 2553. Further negotiations failed to set an election date. On 22 April, grenade attacks suspected to have been launched from Chulalongkorn Hospital killed one and wounded 86. UDD members invaded Chulalongkorn Hospital in an unsuccessful search for the attackers, drawing widespread condemnation from the Thai press, as the protests started to become substantially more siege-like, with barricades and armed guards creating a UDD fortress in the Ratchaprasong vicinity. Forensics expert Pornthip Rojanasunand later indicated that the hospital might or might not have been the origin of the grenade attacks. No arrests were made for either the grenade attack or the invasion of hospital.PRD, DSI: Origin of Silom grenade attacks yet to be concluded: National News Bureau of Thailand , 5 May 2010. A UDD proposal for elections in three months was rejected by Abhisit. On 28 April, the military and protesters clashed in northern Bangkok, wounding at least 16 protesters and killing one soldier. The UDD moved out of Phan Fa and consolidated at Ratchaprasong. On 3 May, Abhisit announced a reconciliation road map and elections on 14 November. The roadmap was tentatively accepted by the UDD, but after they included additional conditions, the government cancelled negotiations.
By mid-May, the Ratchaprasong protest site camp was surrounded by armoured vehicles and snipers were positioned in case they were needed.CSM, Thai PM preps snipers, police to seal off Red-Shirt protest site, 13 May 2010 On the evening of 13 May, General Khattiya Sawasdiphol ("Seh Daeng"), security advisor to the protesters and leader of the armed "Ronin" guards known as the black shirts, was shot in the head by a sniper's bullet while he was giving an interview to press. It is unclear who fired the shot; speculation was it was ordered either by the army, by Thaksin to keep him quiet, or was simply a stray bullet. Thereafter, a state of emergency was expanded to 17 provinces and the military cracked down, dubbed by the Thai media as "savage May" (). An additional 41 civilians were killed (including one Italian journalist) and more than 250 were injured by 20:30, including soldiers.ศูนย์บริการการแพทย์ฉุกเฉิน สำนักการแพทย์ กรุงเทพมหานคร, รายงานเหตุการณ์การชุมนุมของกลุ่ม นปช.กรุงเทพธุรกิจออนไลน์, พฤษภาอำมหิตกับองค์การนิรโทษกรรมสากล , 2 June 2010 One military death was attributed to friendly fire.TNN, ยิงอากาศโยธินควบวีโก้เข้าสีลมโดนสอยดับ1เจ็บ1 , 17 May 2010 The government claimed that the civilians killed were either armed terrorists or were shot by terrorists, and insisted that some civilians were shot by terrorists disguised in army uniforms.Bangkok Post The military declared the area a "free-fire zone", in which anybody, be they protester, resident, tourist or journalist would be shot on sight, with medics banned from entering.The Nation, Medics banned from entering 'red zones' , 16 May 2010Brisbane Times, 16 dead, more likely as Thai authorities ramp up protest crack down, 15 May 2010 On 14 May, United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon encouraged protesters and the government to reopen talks.United Nations, Ban calls on opposing sides in Thailand to avert bloodshed, resume talks, 14 May 2010 On 16 May, UDD leaders said again they were ready for talks as long as the military pulled back, but the government demanded the unconditional dispersal of the protesters. A state of emergency was declared in five northeastern provinces on 16 May. The government rejected a Senate call for a ceasefire and Senate-mediated negotiations. On 17 May, Amnesty International called for the military to stop using live ammunition.Amnesty International, THAILAND: MILITARY MUST HALT RECKLESS USE OF LETHAL FORCE , 17 May 2010 Armored vehicles led the final assault into Ratchaprasong in the early morning of 19 May, killing at least five, including an Italian journalist. Soldiers were reported to have fired on medical staff who went to the aid of the shooting victims. By 13:30, UDD leaders surrendered to police and told protesters to give themselves up. Dozens of arson attacks soon broke out nationwide on Red Shirt targets including the CentralWorld building, various banks and civic buildings and government buildings. People arrested and charged for arson included a number of Red Shirt supporters. A curfew was declared and troops were authorised to shoot on sight anybody inciting unrest. An undisclosed number of arrests and detentions occurred. Fifty-one protesters remained missing as of 8 June.MThai, มูลนิธิกระจกเงาเผยจลาจลคนหาย74พบ23 , 30 The government claimed the protests cost 150 billion baht (approximately US$5 billion) to organise.Bangkok Post, DSI to deliberate 153 UDD cases, 14 June 2010
Background
In 2009, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva faced rising public discontent with his government and near-constant rumours of a military coup. King Bhumibol Adulyadej entered the hospital in September, silencing a unifying force for the country. In December 2009, pro-Abhisit academic Jermsak Pinthong wrote an influential article in newspaper where he said that the nation was already in a state of civil war, although the slaughter had yet to begin.Naew Nah, เรากำลังอยู่ในยุค "สงครามกลางเมือง"! (เจิมศักดิ์ขอคิดด้วยฅน), 28 December 2009 Abhisit enacted numerous security measures throughout February and March 2010 to suppress the Red Shirt protests.
Thaksin asset seizure court case In February 2010, Abhisit established 38 security centres in the north and northeast to crack down on anti-government and anti-coup protesters. Five thousand troops (54 companies) were deployed at 200 checkpoints to prevent protesters from entering Bangkok. In total, about 20,000 security personnel were deployed.The Nation, Huge boost in security , 9 February 2010 Abhisit also escalated efforts to monitor community radio stations, which were often used by rural residents to voice discontent and by activists to organise protests.TNA, "38 centres set up to maintain peace in country", 8 February 2010
On 7 February 2010, Abhisit's spokesperson, Thepthai Senapong, compared Red Shirts to dogs and vowed to use the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) to crack down on Red Shirt community radio stations. He noted that if using the NTC to enforce the media crackdown was illegal, the government would try to pass a special law that would make such a crackdown legal.Matichon, โฆษกมาร์ค อัด "ทักษิณ" เจ้าของฟาร์มสุนัข ให้กระดูกไม่พอเลยกัดกันเอง จี้กทช.หาช่องสะกัดวิทยุชุมชนปลุกปั่น , 8 February 2010 The NTC acting secretary-general was a member of the government-appointed Situation Monitoring Committee in the run up to Thaksin's February court verdict.
The government claimed to foreign diplomats that the National United Front of Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) would "spark violence" and "intensify its agitation and step up protests in Bangkok and around the country in order to disrupt the work of the government and the judiciary" in the period leading up to 26 February. On that date, the Supreme Court's Criminal Division for Holders of Political Positions was scheduled to deliver its verdict on whether to seize former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra's baht ) in assets that the military junta had frozen years earlier. Abhisit's father, a director of CP Foods, announced that he was spending 300,000 baht (US$9,300) a month to provide supplementary security for the premier.
At noon of 1 February, bags of human excrement and fermented fish, were thrown at Abhisit's house. Abhisit linked the incident to Thaksin's assets seizure trial. The Deputy Prime Minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, (in charge of security), blamed the UDD for the incident. The perpetrator was arrested; he confessed and claimed that he threw the bags because he was fed up with police indifference to his complaints of people smoking cigarettes near his house.
On the evening of 15 February, police and soldiers established scores of checkpoints and organised special patrols in inner Bangkok as reports from government security agencies continued to play up fears of anti-government rallies. Abhisit's government expected major UDD-led unrest immediately following the announcement of the Supreme Court's 26 February verdict. However, the UDD said they did not protest against the verdict. Instead they announced that they would hold a one million person protest in Bangkok on 14 March to call for elections. Rumours and suspicions that the protest was financed by Thaksin, as he had been found guilty, were widespread both in the media and among the population. The protesters arrived in Bangkok in smaller numbers than announced, wearing Thaksin face designs on their red tee shirts, flags, and banners. Estimates of the overall cost of the protest, given the number of protesters and the estimated sum that Thaksin had dedicated to it, led observers to guess that it could not last longer than two months. Although the number of protesters decreased from around 150,000 on the first weekend to no more than 5,000 on 19 May at the Ratchaprasong intersection, the two month estimates of duration of the protest proved to be accurate.
Events leading up to 14 March protests