15	The, Blockade, Day, Live, Blog

UPDATE 22:00 At 20:30, the CRES (the centre established to implement the state of emergency) had a press conference. There were three speakers, namely Satit (PM Office Minister), Panitan (Acting Govt spokesman) and Col. Sansern (CRES and Army spokesman).

Satit: Protests are illegal so authorities are able to act. Govt has tried to negotiate, but reds refused to continue. The reconciliation has failed because of Thaksin's interference.

As there are some protesters using weapons, the situation has resulted in people  dying, injuries, and damage. We have blockaded protest. We have not yet entered the protest area. The troops do not intend to move in for crackdown, but just to increase pressure so rally will end. However, the protesters have used weapons. Troops have to protect themselves. Troops did not use weapons initially, but after coming under attack, they have had to. Rules on use of weapons have been set Rules of engagement we have set are clear, only in air, at terrorists and in self-defense. Operations will continue. If the reds stop protesting the road map can continues [BP: He didn't mention elections though]

Col. Sansern: People are trying to distort info. Last 2 days, terrorists & some reds are trying 2 place pressure on authorities and use weapons. The media are only showing some photos and especially not those photos/vid of terrorists attacking the authorities. Troops are keeping distance now. If protesters violate the space, troops will use live bullets to fire low to stop them. Troops will fire if reds try to approach their positions, but will not shoot to kill. They will shot lower to the ground. 4 persons have been killed and more than 80 injured.

Panitan: The government gave specific orders to security officers so as reduce the no of ppl coming into protest area (ie a blockade). Groups of persons, possibly protesters, started attacking authorities. They had no option but to respond using rules of engagement laid out which are can only use live ammunition in self-defense, to protect others, protect general public etc. We are ready to defend ourselves in court. Many areas under the control of the CRES forces. PM is willing to work with civil society forces on the roadmap. We would like to warn residents in some areas in Bangkok that there are some ppl with ill intentions who may create instability

BP: More later. Aside from that Sondhi L has resigned as New Politics Party leader and is returning to the PAD.

UPDATE: 21:25 BBC reports now that 4 people have died.

France24 on their reporter who was shot:

Canadian-born Nelson Rand “was shot in the leg, hand and abdomen”, according to his colleague Cyril Payen in Bangkok. 

Rand was swiftly evacuated and driven to Bangkok’s main hospital where he is undergoing surgery. “He’s lost a lot of blood. His operation will last several hours, that’s all we know right now. Authorities are trying to be reassuring, but they’re not giving much information.”

According to Payen, Rand was either shot at or hit by stray bullets fired by the army. “I was at the scene of the shooting, and I can confirm that the army was the only one firing gunshots”, said Payen, adding that the bullets were real, not rubber, bullets.

UPDATE: 19:00 NYT:

Thai troops fired tear gas and bullets at anti-government protesters who responded with stones, slingshots and homemade rockets, turning central Bangkok into a battlefield on Friday as the military moved to seal off a broad area where the so-called red shirts have camped for weeks.
...
“They are tightening a noose on us but we will fight to the end, brothers and sisters,” a protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told the crowd, which answered with enthusiastic cheers and the clatter of red-and-white plastic clappers.

At the edges of the rally area, demonstrators poured gasoline over high barricades of concrete blocks, tires, barbed wire and sharpened bamboo poles, threatening to set them on fire. They splashed oil on the street in front of one barricade and scattered round pellets to create a slippery dry-land moat.

They attached large firecrackers to the ends of sticks, propping them inside plastic traffic cones before shooting them toward soldiers or military helicopters that hovered above. Other red shirts roamed the streets carrying homemade weapons including bows and arrows, slingshots and bamboo and metal rods.

WSJ:

"Whenever the next election comes, things will get really chaotic," said Paul Chambers, a professor at Germany's Heidelberg University and an expert on Thailand's armed forces. "There could be pandemonium on a much wider scale."

Already, yellow-wearing monarchists have threatened to take to the streets to clear their Red Shirt opponents from Bangkok, partly prompting Mr. Abhisit's government and the armed forces to take a harder stand against the protesters in recent days

FT talks to one red shirt leader:

“People are upset because it shouldn’t happen like this,” said Karkaew Pikulthong, a protest leader. “This isn’t dispersal, it’s assassination. They aimed to kill.”
...
However, Mr Karkaew said that it would be difficult to starve them out.

“I don’t think they can break us completely,” he said. “A lot of people live here and they have to eat. As long as they have something to eat, we will be able to get food in.”

BBC:

Thai security forces have fired live rounds after moving to seal a heavily defended demonstrators' camp in Bangkok amid clashes that left two people dead.

Embassies were closed as protesters set fire to a police bus and shot fireworks at troops, who also responded with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Our correspondent says the area is like a war zone, with troops firing into a park as a helicopter circled overhead.

BP: There is this interesting eyewitness account from the BBC.

Janes:

This leaves Thailand confronting ongoing political flux amid an increasingly volatile internal security situation. The presence of several former military officers in the Red Shirt ranks is no secret. These include Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol (better known by his nickname Seh Daeng, translated as Commander Red), a 58-year-old officer with former counter-insurgency combat experience, who after months of open insubordination was suspended from duty early this year and subsequently charged with terrorism. The outspoken Maj Gen Khattiya emerged as a commander of the 'People's Army' and was often seen organising supporters on the barricades around the Red Shirt enclave in the Ratchaprasong area of central Bangkok. He was shot and seriously wounded on 13 May.

Arguably, the real danger in the months to come is of either a bungled crackdown in Bangkok or a military takeover in a chaotic run-up to, or aftermath of, elections. Either of these scenarios could provoke a backlash of Red Shirt guerrilla attacks across wide swathes of the north and northeast of the country. Dangerously unclear is how severe such attacks might be, how long they might last and what wider repercussions they might trigger.

UPDATE: 16:00: CNN:

A journalist who was interviewing a key political protest leader in Bangkok said the sniper bullet that struck the man came so close that it "felt like it grazed my head."

Describing a chaotic scene on the streets of the Thai capital Thursday night, Thomas Fuller of the International Herald Tribune described to CNN how Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol was shot in the head as he was interviewing the opposition figure.

"I was facing him, he was answering my questions, looking at me and the bullet hit him in the forehead, from what I could tell," Fuller told CNN's Michael Holmes. "It looks like the bullet came over my head and struck him. I don't have any way of confirming this beyond what I remember from the scene but it felt like it grazed my head."

UPDATE: 15:45: BBC:

Thai security forces have fired live rounds after moving in to seal off a heavily defended encampment of protesters in the centre of Bangkok.

Protesters set fire to a police bus near foreign embassies as gunshots rang out, following clashes overnight that left one person dead in the capital.

A BBC correspondent says the area is like a warzone, with troops firing across a park at protesters.

BP: Alistair of BBC tweets it was not directly into protesters.

RFI on the foreign reporter shot:

Reporter Nelson Rand, from RFI's sister TV station France24, was shot in the leg during clashes in the Thai capital Friday.

Reuters:

Troops fired repeatedly into an intersection leading to an encampment in a ritzy hotel and shopping district they have occupied for five weeks, a Reuters witness said, adding he saw several people injured including two journalists.

It was unclear if troops were using live rounds, rubber bullets or both, he said.

UPDATE: 15:00: Three journalists have been shot. One from Matichon, one from Voice TV (owned by Thakin's children) and another from France24 .

BP: As of now, there are no confirmed reports that any are in a serious injury although TNN stated one was shot in hand (understand to be Matichon journo), another shot in the hand, and a third shot in the stomach.

UPDATE: 14:00 Some tweets from Alistair of BBC who is based in Bangkok (from earliest to latest):

Back out after a crazy late night. Heading to Silom but poss flashpoint near Pratinum as reds expand

Pratinam a poss flashpoint - they've extended barricades over Petch and are breaking up rocks. V agitated. Most action at Sum Lam tho.

Eerie quiet on Wireless as troops block road outside Japanese Emb and reds line up 200m away firing the odd firework.

Significant gun fire on Wireless. Troops firing from road into park towards red shirt protest site.

Definitely using live rounds and shooting direct - not above heads

BP: Things are very tense.

AP:

A group of anti-government protesters set fire to security forces' vehicles as gunshots were heard in central Bangkok in a burst of new violence Friday after nightlong clashes left one person dead.

An Associated Press photographer saw protesters torching some vehicles near a downtown subway station. It was unclear if the trucks belonged to the military or police. Lines of troops also were seen moving toward the protesters. Gunshots were heard in the area, but it was not clear who was firing.

The violence, which so far has claimed 30 lives and injured hundreds since anti-government Red Shirt protesters began camping in the capital on March 12, plunged Thailand deeper into political uncertainty, with both sides hardening their positions.

Gunshots rang out throughout the night and into the morning in central Bangkok. At daybreak, a group of protesters captured and vandalized two military water cannon trucks at the intersection of Sathorn and Rama IV roads in the heart of the business district. They ripped the cannon from its moorings and used its plastic barrel to shoot firecrackers from behind a sandbag bunker they had commandeered from soldiers.

The Red Shirt protesters, who have taken over an upscale 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) area in central Bangkok, vowed they will not give up until the government resigns and early elections are called.

"I'm not scared. We are here only to ask for democracy. Why are we facing violence?" Mukda Saelim, 39, a mushroom farmer from Chonburi province, said. "I don't have anything to fight them, but I'm not afraid. You asked if this is safe? It's not."

The Red Shirts believe Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's coalition government came to power illegitimately through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military. They are demanding he dissolve Parliament immediately and call new elections.

Chances of a compromise dimmed further after renegade army Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, who is accused of creating a paramilitary force for the Red Shirts, was shot in the head Thursday evening. He was talking to reporters just inside the perimeter of the protesters' encampment in Saladeng when the bullet hit him.

He was taken to a hospital in a coma and was in critical condition. The hospital said his brain had swollen and he was unlikely to survive.

It was not known who shot Khattiya, better known by the nickname Seh Daeng. But the Red Shirts blamed the government.

"This is illegal use of force ordered by Abhisit Vejjajiva," said Arisman Pongruengrong, a Red Shirt leader. "It is clear that there were no clashes at Saladeng, but Seh Daeng was shot by a government sniper. This is clearly a use of war weapons on the people."

BP: More to come.