Land of Coups

Posted on Apr 12, 2009

news.bbc.co.uk

The demonstrations that have vexed Bangkok for the last few days took an ugly turn Monday as the Thai army fired at a crowd of protesters and ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra called for revolution. Current PM Abhisit Vejjajiva, the object of the protesters’ ire, has promised to restore order, though he himself rose to power on the back of public unrest.

BBC:

“The soldiers fired hundreds of rounds from their M-16 automatic rifles as they advanced, though it was unclear whether they were firing at, or over, the protesters,” the agency says.

A Bangkok hospital doctor told the BBC News website that 74 people had been brought into hospital, most of them suffering abrasions but some with gunshot wounds.

An army spokesman, Col Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, said about 400 soldiers had moved against some 300 protesters.

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