Red Shirts await fate as deadline passes

[maddezmom]

Source: ABC

A deadline for anti-government protesters to leave their rally site in central Bangkok has now passed and the army is preparing to move in.

The anti-government Red Shirts have been living in a sprawling protest camp in an up-market Bangkok shopping district for weeks, but the military is closing in with orders to shoot to kill.

The government had told women, children and elderly people to leave the camp by 3:00pm (6:00pm AEST).

The government said again today that anyone remaining in the main rally site would be treated as a criminal and risked two years in jail.



Read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/05/17/2901928.htm?section=justin

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Rogue Thailand general who backed protests dies

Renegade Thai general Khattiya Sawasdipol, who was shot on Thursday as he backed protesters in Bangkok, has died, hospital officials have said.

The announcement came amid fresh fighting between the protesters and soldiers after Thai officials rejected a demand for UN-backed talks.
...
About 5,000 people remain in the encampment in Ratchaprasong, where food and water are running low amid a blockade on the area.

In a television announcement, the government told protesters - particularly women, children and the elderly - to leave the camp by mid-afternoon, or face the prospect of two years in jail.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8685971.stm

[Fearless]

2. Let me first say I know nothing about the goings on in Thailand...

But it appears they have the same issue that the Teabaggers do with name-choosing.

[maddezmom]

3. Thai Red Shirt offers ceasefire as deadline passes

Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
May 17, 2010, 10:11AM
BANGKOK — The Thai government said it would accept a cease-fire offer from a Red Shirt protest leader on Monday if their fighters return to their camp in central Bangkok, as street battles that have killed 37 people raged for a fifth day.

The offer came during a telephone conversation between Red Shirt leader Nattawut Saikuwa, who called the government's chief negotiator, Korbsak Sabhavasu, on his cell phone. It was the first direct talks between the two sides since the fighting started Thursday.

Nattawut's response was not immediately known. Calls to his phone went unanswered.

Earlier, a Thai government ultimatum passed for the estimated 5,000 protesters occupying a barricaded encampment in the city center by 3 p.m. Monday or face up to two years in prison. The demand had little apparent effect, and unrest still flared in various parts of the downtown area outside the barricades, with troops firing live ammunition at protesters who were lighting tires to hide their positions. The thick smoke darkened the sky.

more:http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/top/all/7008685.html