Land of Coups
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.
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.
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“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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Yingluck Shinawatra is expected to become Thailand's first female prime minister after her opposition party won an outright majority in parliamentary elections Sunday. Shinawatra is the sister of Thaksin Shinawatra, himself prime minister until 2006 when a military coup forced him into exile. (more)
The clash between the Thai establishment and anti-government "red shirt" protesters took a turn for the deadly on Thursday when a series of grenade explosions killed one person and wounded 75 in a Bangkok business district.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's days in office may be numbered. After last weekend's bloody clash between red-shirted protesters and government forces in Bangkok, Vejjajiva was dealt two big tactical blows Monday that could lead to his party's dissolution.
Thousands of anti-government protesters rallied in front of the Thai parliament on Wednesday demanding new elections. The demonstration forced legislators to pack it in and some of the Red Shirt protesters smashed through the compound’s gates, though they left shortly thereafter.
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