Thailand Latest: Protestors Ready for Talks? (Fuller/Mydans)

Thomas Fuller and Seth Mydans provide latest news from Thailand in The New York Times:

Leaders of the antigovernment red-shirt protesters said Tuesday they were prepared to negotiate with the government to halt five days of street fighting that threatened to spiral further out of control.

“We have agreed to a new round of talks proposed by the Senate because if we allow things to go on like this, we don’t know how many more lives will be lost,” said the leader Nattawut Saikua, speaking at a news conference in the heart of a neighborhood that has been occupied by demonstrators for six weeks.

Thailand Latest: Opposition General Dies, Fresh Fighting (BBC)

There was no immediate word on the government’s response to his offer. Fighting has raged in Bangkok since May 13, causing at least 36 deaths and turning an area of the city into a battlefield.



Chaotic gun battles in central Bangkok on Sunday and Monday marked a new phase in the city’s spiraling violence, as residents hoarded food and the government warned die-hard protesters that they should leave their encampment or risk “harmful” consequences.

Protesters roaming the lawless streets of a strategically important neighborhood near the protest zone threatened to set fire to a gasoline truck as bonfires, some from piles of tires, sent large plumes of black, acrid smoke into the sky. Earlier on Monday, a rogue Thai general who was shot in the head last week died.

Security forces armed with assault rifles were deployed in greater numbers across the city after many firefights, including a nighttime grenade attack on the five-star Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel, a landmark in the city. The attack and a subsequent prolonged gun battle suggested that Thai security forces were up against more than just protesters with slingshots and bamboo staves. The mayhem of the crackdown, which follows two months of demonstrations by protesters who are seeking the resignation of the government, has made it difficult to understand who is battling whom.

The government suggested that Thaksin Shinawatra, the former prime minister who was ousted in a 2006 coup, was behind the shadowy forces battling the army on Bangkok streets.

Satit Wongnongtoei, an official in the prime minister’s office, spoke of a “commander who lives overseas” who is intent on “causing violence and loss of life as much as they can by using weapons of war.” Mr. Thaksin is reported to live mostly in Dubai.

The government on Sunday issued a ban on certain banking transactions linked to companies and accounts held by Mr. Thaksin and his family.

The protest movement defiantly encamped in Bangkok began as a reaction to Mr. Thaksin’s ouster, but it has expanded into a social movement as less affluent segments of Thai society rebel against what they say is an elite group that tries to control Thailand’s democratic institutions.

On Sunday, Mr. Thaksin issued a statement through his lawyer that called on “all sides to step back from this terrible abyss and seek to begin a new, genuine and sincere dialogue between the parties.”

It seems plausible that some of the attacks in recent days have been carried out by disaffected elements of the military or the police. The attack on the Dusit Thani Bangkok Hotel in the early hours of Monday may have been a retaliatory move by a faction loyal to Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, the renegade officer allied with the protesters who was shot on Thursday and died Monday. Security experts speculate that General Khattiya was shot by a sniper stationed at the hotel, which has in recent weeks served as a base for hundreds of security personnel.

The government has insisted that soldiers fire only in self-defense, but the death toll has been lopsidedly among civilians. Government statistics said that 34 civilians and 2 soldiers — counting the general — had been killed since Thursday, and 256 people had been wounded, almost all of them civilians.

Protesters have attributed some of the deaths to snipers who are stationed in several places around the city on top of tall buildings.

The Foreign Ministry explained in a memo distributed Monday that the sharpshooters had been deployed to “look out for danger and protect others.”

With the apparent involvement of various armed groups, the fighting may have moved beyond the point where any protest leader can declare an effective cease-fire.

The protest site, in the heart of Bangkok’s main commercial district, which at its peak was filled with tens of thousands of demonstrators, had thinned to perhaps 2,000 protesters on Monday afternoon. Where entire families had camped in a festive atmosphere, mostly men remained.

Army aircraft circled above the site, dropping leaflets urging people to leave. Guards in black with red scarves escorted people who chose to leave. A man circulated among the guards handing out small packets of sticky rice along with 100-baht bills, worth about $3.

Protesters filled small energy drink bottles with gasoline and then demonstrated their plan to propel them by swinging a golf club. Small groups of people occasionally pointed at department stores where they said they believed snipers were hidden.

Outside the site of the sit-in, on Rama IV Road, where much of the worst fighting has taken place, trucks loaded with tires raced in, unloaded them as if at a racetrack pit stop, and sped away. Crowds watching from a safe distance applauded. The tires were stacked by the road to replenish a burning barricade.

Tension radiated from the battle zone, and at one point unknown gunmen carried out an attack on a hospital.

Hundreds of businesses and bank branches were closed after the violence caused the government to declare a national holiday and postpone the opening of schools.

The American Embassy in Bangkok canceled a “town hall” meeting about the security situation scheduled for Tuesday because of the risk that those attending would be put in “harm’s way,” a statement from the embassy said Monday. Embassy officials will instead use the Internet to address concerns of Americans living in Bangkok.