Relations between Egypt and Hezbollah have deteriorated, after the arrest of 49 people supposedly linked to the Lebanese group. Are Hezbollah’s sights really set on Egypt? Was the group sent to help Palestinians in Gaza? Or is this all political brinkmanship?
The United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, the ousted Thai prime minister, is leading the ongoing anti-government protests in Bangkok.
Sean Boonpracong, the group’s international spokesman, tells Al Jazeera what the ‘red shirts’ protesters want.
More from the New York Times:
Soldiers armed with assault rifles fought running street battles with antigovernment protesters in Bangkok on Monday as unrest spread through a wider swath of the city, and the chief of Thailand’s armed forces vowed to use “every means to end the chaos.”
Two people were killed and more than 113 people were wounded in the clashes, according to hospital officials. Among the wounded were 23 security officers and other government personnel.
Major shopping malls shut their doors, foreign governments advised their citizens in Bangkok, the capital, to stay inside and the government banned the sale of gasoline in the center of the city in an effort to stop protesters from making Molotov cocktails.
“We will not use weapons unless it is necessary to defend ourselves,” said the supreme commander of Thailand’s armed forces, Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara. “We will not use them excessively.”
By late evening, security forces had cleared most major intersections, and the protesters were facing off against army and police units in the streets around the prime minister’s office. Hundreds of pro-government vigilantes armed with machetes and clubs were also in the area.
The gunfire appeared to be aimed into the air above the protesters, but hospitals reported that more than 70 of them were injured, many from the tear gas. Some news reports said that two demonstrators and two soldiers had been shot and wounded.
The violence came on what is normally a day of animated celebration, the New Year’s water festival. Street parties and revelry continued in some Bangkok neighborhoods untouched by the strife, but the center of the city remained tense. At least a dozen streets were barricaded by protesters, many of whom were armed with clubs and slingshots.
In a televised address, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva sought to reassure the nation that the government was carrying out a “step-by-step process to restore order and stop the violence.”
The unrest has pitted security forces against protesters known as the “red shirts,” who are linked to Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister ousted in a 2006 military coup. But there are fears that the violence could spread if other groups become involved.
Mr. Thaksin, who lives abroad and faces a two-year prison sentence on charges of abuse of power if he returns to Thailand, said in an interview on Monday with CNN that the government was concealing “many” deaths in the clashes. “They even take the bodies on the military trucks and take them away,” he said. The government did not immediately respond to his assertion.
The “red shirts” are defying the government’s decree of a “severe emergency situation,” including a ban on blocking any traffic, imposed in Bangkok on Sunday, a day after protesters breached security and entered a hotel complex where Asian leaders were gathering for a summit meeting, causing the talks to be canceled. They have vowed to continue their demonstrations, which have grown increasingly violent, until Mr. Abhisit steps down.