Last night as I lay in bed I heard two loud explosions, about 30 seconds apart, not more than a kilometer away. The explosions were quickly followed by a sustained, ten minute burst of gunfire. This is the second night of gunfire here in Bangkok.
More after the jump.
As of right now this is the information I can confirm.
There were two explosions about 30 seconds apart last night. After the explosions gunfire erupted. The area of the gunfire was no at Parliament, but at the Prime Ministers office, as I erroneously reported last night. My mistake. First night in Bangkok and still trying to orient myself as to the space of the city. Up to 40 people were wounded and three or four of them seriously. There were two explosions, not one, as the Times reports. I heard them both.
Here is where the politics of the situation lie, as I understand them. One general and one police chief thus far have been fired. The working assumption here is that they were canned because they were unwilling to storm the airport. Pleas note, all of this information is suspect until I can confirm it. My judgment and assessment of the situation may be very incorrect. If there are any readers out there who are in Thailand or Bangkok and have more to add, please do.
There is a very real fear about storming the airport right now because so many of the protesters are middle-aged women. No one in Thailand wants that blood on their hands. The protesters are extremely well organized. Food, medical supplies and water are being brought in regularly to the airport. Furthermore, many in Thailand are very sympathetic to the protesters, even though, the tourist area is suffering--even amidst thousands of stranded tourists. More protesters continue to swarm towards the airport. They are growing in number. This does not bode well for the government. The protesters want the current Prime Minister, Somchai Wongsawat, gone. And fast. The High Court is supposed to rule on the viability of the current coalition government on Wednesday. Before I got here I would not have been surprised if the military or police had stormed the airport. But now it has apparently grown to large and so we wait.
There is a planned rally-cum-protest of government supporters today called the 'Red Shirts' that I will endeavor to find. I'm trying to track down the location now. I figure for now this is the best use of my time. I will attempt to make it out to the airport tomorrow or Tuesday.
As for the stranded tourists: some are being ferried out of a military airport here in Bangkok to Singapore, Chiang Mai and other regional airports where they can make connections home. But many also are taking buses and the trains south are booked solid for a week.
I'll report more soon.
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