BANGKOK, Thailand, May 1, (AFP) -Thailand's prolonged stand off between its government and “Red Shirt” protesters could deteriorate into an “undeclared civil war”, a top think-tank has warned, as tensions increase in the capital. The International Crisis Group (ICG) said Thailand must consider mediation help from other countries to defuse its political crisis and avoid a slide into further violence.
“The Thai political system has broken down and seems incapable of pulling the country back from the brink of widespread conflict,” the ICG report, which was released late Friday, said. “The stand-off in the streets of Bangkok between the government and Red Shirt protesters is worsening and could deteriorate into an undeclared civil war,” it added.
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| A Thai Red Shirt anti-government protester sleeps on the ground next to his sling-shot inside the Red Shirts' fortified camp in the financial central district of Silom in downtown Bangkok on May 1. AFP |
Thailand is reeling from the worst political violence in almost two decades in its capital, where 27 people have died and almost 1,000 have been injured in a series of bloody confrontations in April.
The demonstrations are the latest chapter in years of turmoil pitting the ruling elite against the mainly poor and rural Reds, who say the government illegitimately came to power in 2008. Many of the Reds come from Thailand's rural poor and urban working classes and support former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives overseas to avoid a jail term for corruption.
Protest leaders slammed management at a Bangkok hospital Saturday, saying its chaotic evacuation of patients after it was stormed by Red Shirts was a ploy to make the protesters look bad. The Reds have faced heavy criticism after about 100 supporters raided Chulalongkorn hospital Thursday evening under the mistaken belief it sheltered security forces preparing a crackdown, following deadly street violence.
The 1,400-bed hospital evacuated most of its patients because of the incident, and Red leaders have apologised profusely.
“The hospital did not hear our apology. They dramatised the evacuation of patients, turning it into a tragedy to paint Red Shirt people as bad,” Jatuporn Prompan, one of the group's core leaders, said in news conference. |
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