Post date: Dec 01, 2013 12:21:23 AM
Chaos outside a rally of government supporters in Bangkok the night before a deadline set by protesters for the ousting of the ruling party.
BANGKOK, THAILAND (NOVEMBER 30, 2013)(REUTERS) - One person was killed and 10 others injured after gunshots were fired and an anti-government crowd attacked motorcyclists and vehicles near a stadium rally by supporters of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Saturday (November 30). The casualty figures were provided by officials from nearby hospitals.
Chaos erupted outside of the red shirt rally venue in Bangkok's Ramkamhaeng area as gunshots were fired. Two of the victims were shot and the others were stabbed or hit by rocks.Those attacked by the crowd were accused of being "red shirts", ardently loyal supporters of Yingluck and her brother and former prime minister Thaksin, who gathered in their thousands to ward of any coup attempt against the government
Inside the stadium tens of thousands of supporters in their trade mark red, listened to songs and speeches by their leaders.
"Are you gong to take on the responsibility of being the government of this country? If you can't, what will happen is that there will be a people's revolution because we cannot stand it anymore," said Thida Tawornseth, a red shirt leader, referring to the anti-government protesters who want the government to resign.
With a Sunday (December 1) deadline set by demonstrators for the ousting of the government, police called for military backup to protect parliament and Yingluck's office, Government House, where protesters tore down stone and razor wire barriers ahead of a planned move to occupy it.
Demonstrators have started to up the ante and briefly occupied the headquarters of the army on Friday (November 29), urging it to join them in a complex power struggle centred on the enduring political influence of Yingluck's brother Thaksin.
In another part of town, anti-government protesters held a rally of their own. Thousands gathered to hear their leader who on Friday announced they would take over government buildings at 10:45am (0345GMT) on Sunday (December 1).
"Ladies and gentlemen, soon there will be a victorious moment for our people. Let's relax and enjoy tonight because tomorrow will be our victory day," said Suthep Thaugsuban at the rally on Saturday.
The tension heightens a nearly decade-long conflict that broadly pits Thailand's traditional establishment of top generals, royalists and the urban middle class against the mostly rural, northern supporters of Thaksin.
The protests are the biggest since red-shirted Thaksin supporters paralysed Bangkok in April-May 2010 in a period of unrest that ended with a military crackdown in which 91 people, mostly Thaksinsupporters, were killed