Red-shirt Protesters Ordered to Vacate Encampment
With violence spreading to other cities in Thailand, Red-shirt protesters have been instructed to vacate the area they are occupying in central Bangkok by 3 pm local time (9am GMT), said media reports.
Last night, government had lifted a curfew order which was to be put in place, after it decided that it made life too difficult for residents inside the elite area occupied by the anti-government protesters for the last several weeks, reports said.
The deadline to vacate the area is the latest in a series of curfew and comes following a rogue Thai general helping Red-shirt protesters died in hospital after being shot by a sniper while being interviewed by a journalist, said reports.
Major General Khattiya Sawasdipol, a renegade army officer accused of creating a paramilitary force for the Red Shirt anti-government protesters, was talking to a New York Times reporter inside the parameter of the protest zone in central Bangkok on Friday when he was shot in the head. The bullet also grazed the head of the reporter.
Khattiya’s family claimed that the attack was planned in advance and a bloody protests followed on streets between anti-government protesters and the army that has led to 36 deaths, said reports.
“My brother had learned that he would be assassinated in one month,” Chiaranai Matchakijborikarn, Khattiya’s elder sister, was quoted as saying while talking to the Bangkok Post.
As anti-government protest spread to other areas of the capital and to other cities in Thailand last night there were fears that news of Khattiya’s death would lead to new violence, reports said.
(Based on internet reports)
