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BANGKOK: More than 100K at 9pm. Many More Coming. JAMS 50km Long. ArbiSHIT SHITTING!

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A foreign woman walks past Thai army soldiers standing guard on a walkway at the Asok skytrain station in Bangkok April 28, 2010.​
 

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Former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, left, waves as he walks out of a bank in Podgorica, Montenegro, Monday, April 26, 2010. Thaksin said in Montenegro Monday that he is in contact with the demonstrators who have been camped in a shopping area of the Thai capital for 24 days.

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Ousted Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra speaks to a journalist as he leaves a bank in centre of Montenegrin capital of Podgorica April 26, 2010. Thaksin said on Monday that he is considering several major investments in the Adriatic country of Montenegro, including development of a scenic island.​
 

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A woman wearing a t-shirt with a picture of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stands near anti-government "red shirt" protesters lining up to be pictured to get a "red shirt" identity card inside their barricade, in the Silom business district in Bangkok April 27, 2010.​
 

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CRES okays live rounds against protesters

The Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation (CRES), in preparation for dispersing the anti-government protesters from the Rajprasong area, yesterday said security forces could fire live bullets if they felt threatened at close range.


"If an attacker comes within 100 metres, officials will fire tear gas first, but if he comes closer, within 30 metres, guns may be fired," said spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

"We're now making sure operational officials understand they should try not to take any lives. However, they will have to act in accordance with the actual situation."

The armed forces are prepared for the operation to retake the Rajprasong area, but the final decision and orders will come when the time is right, he said.

Authorities and protesters have been confronting each other in the Rajprasong area since early this month. The government has said it will remove the red shirts but has so far been unable to do so.

For now, the authorities will prevent people from bringing more lathe-style weapons to the protest site. Officials have set up seven checkpoints around the Rajprasong intersection, on Phya Thai, Sala Daeng, Phongpraram, Narathiwat, Silom, Henri Dunant and Asoke-Montri roads, Sansern said.

Those carrying weapons into the area will be arrested under the emergency decree, Sansern said.

Asked whether the CRES had discussed media reports about the protesters preparing gas for use against the military, Sansern said no but that commanders on the ground were aware of this.

"These officials have experience with all kinds of weapons used by the protesters, including M60 machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades," Sansern said.
 

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Pheu Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh yesterday lashed out at the government for "ordering killings" and for framing him as the mastermind behind "terrorism" during the protests.

In a related development, red-shirt leaders rigorously denied their involvement in a campaign designed to overthrow the monarchy and threatened to sue the government for defamation.

"I condemn both of you - Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban - as murderers," Chavalist said in a bid to deflect the charges.


The main opposition party also called a press conference to rebut allegations that Chavalit and the red shirts were linked to acts of terrorism designed to grab power and that the red-shirt protests were just a pretext for establishing a "New Thai State" and abolishing the monarchy.

Chavalit said he was not responsible for instigating violence, arguing the real culprits were Abhisit and Suthep who ordered a crackdown on the red shirts in cold blood.

"You will be haunted by your murderous acts and I am certain you will get your deserved punishment," he warned.

Chavalit also denied he was in any way involved with armed groups, saying he had always been an advocate for change via peaceful means. However, he added he would not file a counter lawsuit on grounds that he deemed it futile to litigate about his reputation.

He also insisted he was justified in seeking an audience with His Majesty the King and soliciting royal intervention to end the turmoil.

"If all sides think my move is inappropriate, then I will have to suspend my request for a royal audience," he said.

Meanwhile, red-shirt leader Natthawut Saikua said none of the reds were linked in any attempts to harm the monarchy.

He said portraying the reds as disloyal to the monarchy was just a figment of the government's and the military's imagination, adding that the reds had instructed their lawyers to initiate a defamation lawsuit.

He went on to question why the authorities were labelling the reds as terrorists when those involved in violence in the three southernmost provinces were classified as insurgents.

Red-shirt leader weng Tojirakarn said the reds were struggling to achieve six goals, none of which was about overthrowing the monarchy as alleged.

The six goals are :

1)to advance democracy with the King as head of state,
2)to overthrow the ammart or the elite,
3)to uphold peaceful means,
4)to combine political and economic struggles,
5)to get rid of double standards
6)to restore the suspended 1997 charter.
 

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UDD leaders see victory as inevitable


From Phan Fa Bridge to the Ratchaprasong intersection, the red shirt demonstration has grown so strategically and relentlessly that the combined forces of the army and the police cannot deal with them using only riot-control methods.

Honouring the dead Key leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship make merit at a religious ceremony at their Ratchaprasong stronghold yesterday. They were paying homage to the demonstrators killed in the April 10 bloodshed and other clashes between red shirts and soldiers. Apichart Jinakul

Further undermining the public’s confidence in the government’s ability to pull the country out of this crisis, United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship co-leader Korkaew Pikulthong has claimed that many police officers and soldiers are on its side.

The UDD believes it will eventually defeat the government to pave the way for fresh elections as a means to – in the words of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra – liberate Thai society from its amataya bureaucratic elite-manipulated democracy.

Their aspirations do not seem so far-fetched if the strategic movements and preparations that led to the establishment of a so-called people’s army are taken into account. From their mobile rallies around Bangkok, their fierce fights against soldiers and the well-organised movement behind their “street bunkers” in the capital’s key business areas, the red shirt protesters have kept the government in a state of anxiety.

Since March 12, the UDD has called on several thousand of its upcountry supporters to join the rally in Bangkok. Supporters were then sent to rally around town to pressure Mr Abhisit into dissolving the House with no fear of security officers.

Two of the heaviest weights on the Abhisit Vejjajiva government are the UDD’s prolonged occupation of the Ratchaprasong intersection and the group’s violent clash with security forces at Khok Wua intersection on April 10, which claimed 25 lives.

The government has so far been unable to put pressure on the UDD. In the eyes of the public, the situation is not under the state’s control, although the government has managed to keep the UDD from entering Silom Road.

“We believe Mr Abhisit will finally retreat to solve the problem,” Mr Korkaew said.``If he doesn’t retreat, considering our preparations, we’re ready to stay here [the Ratchaprasong intersection] forever.”

His group has occupied the area, a prime business and tourism location, for weeks, forcing the shutdown of major shopping centres.

The continued seizure of the area could potentially cost businesses billions of baht.

Retaking Ratchaprasong is a major challenge for the government. The UDD has set up bunkers at six roads around the area. One of them is a spot in front of the King Rama VI Monument at Lumpini Park, which is surrounded by a long wall of sharpened bamboo stakes reinforced with tyres. “These are built to block the state’s attempts to disperse us,” Mr Korkaew said.

Roads behind the bunkers serve as places where the red shirt protesters can hang out and relax, he said.

News updates and speeches from UDD leaders are delivered between 6pm and midnight on the main Ratchaprasong stage. Guest speakers such as former prime minister Somchai Wongsawat and former Thai Rak Thai executive Chaturon Chaisaeng are invited to speak during this time.

During the day, people from upcountry fill the area in front of the stage, while in the evening Bangkokians come to listen to UDD leaders.

The UDD monitors speeches on its stage. Those expressing remarks that risk insulting the monarchy could be barred from the movement entirely.

Surachai Danwattananusorn was axed and later established his own group, Red Siam, Mr Korkaew said.

UDD protesters are also treated well, he said. “We prepare food for at least 10,000 people during the day and make enough to serve between 30,000 and 50,000 people at night.’’

Many red shirt protesters said they joined the rally because the movement promised a new opportunity to solve problems, ranging from economic woes to political and social injustice. “Double standards” is a popular buzzword among the protesters.

“I came here by following my heart. I don’t fear a government dispersal. I could even sacrifice my life,’’ said Eiam Boonpayoong, a 49-year-old bus conductor from Samut Prakan. She attacked the Abhisit government for its inability to manage the economy after closed factories had led to a reduced number of bus passengers.

Wanpen Koprasert, 50, a vendor at a shopping mall, claimed she could not stand the double standards after learning of the slow progress in the prosecution of the People’s Alliance for Democracy, which seized two Bangkok airports in 2008.

``I too will fight to the death. I’ll fight for my children,’’ she said.

Maem, who holds a master’s degree in political science, suggested a way out of the deadlock between the government and the UDD.

``Just dissolve the House and let’s start things over,’’ said Maem, who declined to provide her full name.


BangkokPost
 

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Protests spread in Bangkok

BANGKOK - PROTESTERS in Thailand pushing for early elections threatened mobile rallies across Bangkok on Wednesday in defiance of a state of emergency, which would increase the risk of clashes with troops or rival protest groups.

The capital was relatively calm overnight and the number of demonstrators at the 'red shirt' rally in an upmarket shopping district of the capital was little more than 1,000 at dawn, a Reuters photographer said. That was much smaller than more recently in the seven-week protest movement, when fears of a military crackdown were intense, but Reuters reporters said the anti-government protesters had fortified barricades around the site overnight.

Cooking gas canisters were added to a huge barricade on the edge of the Silom business district to deter troops from firing in that direction and bottles filled with fuel were added to another, Reuters reporters said. Some barricades were already doused with fuel last week.

Troop movements were reported in central areas of Bangkok late on Tuesday and army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said some were 'training' for an eventual dispersal of the protesters. 'We are maintaining checkpoints at several places as well to check for arms and prevent more people from going in to gather,' he said.

The red shirts have in turn mobilised to prevent troops moving on main roads into Bangkok and in some northern provinces. The stock market has been volatile recently despite a good start to the quarterly results season. Foreign investors who had been lured by the cheap valuations in Bangkok despite the unrest were sellers for the fourth session on Tuesday, when the market lost 0.3 per cent, in line with South-east Asian markets.

Hopes for a negotiated end to the crisis, in which 26 people have been killed and hundreds wounded, were dashed at the weekend when Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rejected a proposal by the protesters for an election in three months. Mr Abhisit said late on Tuesday the army had no plan to impose martial law. Protesters forced Bangkok's elevated railway to shut for four hours in the morning rush hour on Tuesday to stop any attempt by troops to use a station near their rally, but there was no repeat on Wednesday and traffic was no more congested than usual. -- REUTERS
 

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The speech that wasn’t televised
April 27th, 2010 by May Adadol Ingawanij, Guest Contributor · 9 Comments

In December 2008 the UDD leader Natthawut Saikua made a beautiful speech to the crowd of redshirts in front of parliament. Invoking powerfully elemental imagery, this speech (excerpt translated below) portrays the redshirts in the figurative form of the sons and daughters of the land who know full well that a vast distance separates them from the sky. ‘We only have to look down to realise that we are worth no more than a handful of earth.’ We, the redshirts, are a people denied respect and justice, a people whose collective voice, rising from the land to the sky, calls for the acknowledgement that ‘we too have heart and soul.’

The text and video clip of this speech have since been widely circulating among the network of blogs and websites that participate in the redshirts’ movement. They’ve also appeared on Wikiquote as well as on the webboards of the odd independent media. But elsewhere it’s as if the most powerful Thai political speech in recent years has never happened. The current place of this speech, subsequently entitled ‘from the land to the sky,’ is a curious one. It’s regarded as a speech of historic importance among those who have, so to speak, crossed into the barricades. It doesn’t appear to be widely known among the ‘newly red’: those who may subscribe in conceptual terms to the call for equality, and may therefore sympathise with the crowd from this distance. (But they/I can’t quite see themselves/myself reflected in the provincial-machismo of some of the regulars on the redshirts’ stage.) Those who continue to maintain that all this is only about Thaksin wouldn’t have been irritated by this speech – it wasn’t televised on their channels.A historic speech that wasn’t televised, Natthawut’s trumping of the rambling, robotic convention of Thai political speechmaking deserves much wider, and continuing, circulation. It’s rich food for thought. Why was it this particular speech, and not others, that struck a powerful chord among the UDD supporters? What does the texture of the speech and its reception say about the basis of people’s identification with the redshirts’ movement? The allegorical structure of ‘from the earth to the sky’ is a challenge to think through too. Censorship and the decline of aura both account for the rise of the allegorical form. It’s a type of utterance that works on multiple levels, so won’t be informative enough for the rationalist; but what it always has to have is the trust that the audience will decipher a message that parallels the literal one. How the audience shifts from producing that message into sustaining effective political action is another question, but the quality of Natthawut’s speech tells you that something has changed. There’ll be no more marching into action having made a play of absorbing the cold condescension of sagely wisdom.


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From the earth to the sky
Natthawut Saikua

..We’re denied many things. We’re denied justice; respect in the way governmental bodies treat us; accurate and direct reporting about us in the media. We’re denied the chance to openly declare our fight – to openly and directly declare, with our clarity and sincerity, what it is that we are fighting for.

What’s most important for us all to remember, brothers and sisters, is that we are the salt of the earth. We are the people with no privileges.

We were born on the land. We grew up on the land. Each step that we take is on this same land. We stand, with our two feet planted here, so far away from the sky.

Tilting our heads fully upwards, we gaze at the sky, and we realise how far away that sky is.

Standing on this land, we only have to look down to realise that we are worth no more than a handful of earth.

But I believe in the power of the redshirts. I believe our number is growing day-by-day, minute-by-minute. Even though we stand on this land, and we speak out from our place among the earth, our voice will rise to the sky. Of this I have no doubt.

The voice we’re making now – our cries and shouts – is the voice of people who are worth only a handful of earth. But it is the voice of the people who were born and grew up on this land, and it will rise to the level of the sky.

We, the redshirts, want to say to the land and sky that we too have heart and soul. We, the redshirts, want to remind the land and sky that we too are the Thai people. We, the redshirts, want to ask the land and sky whether we have been condemned to seek, by ourselves, a rightful place to plant our feet here..

Respected brothers and sisters, rich or poor, we have the most precious commodity of them all, our fighting spirit and and the path towards democracy...




....
เราไม่มีหลายอย่างนะครับ
เราไม่มีโอกาสได้รับความยุติธรรม เราไม่มีโอกาสได้รับการปฏิบัติอย่างดีจากองค์กรของรัฐ
เราไม่มีโอกาสได้รับพื้นที่ ที่นำเสนอข่าวอย่างตรงไปตรงมาจากสื่อหลายแขนง
เราไม่มีโอกาสได้ประกาศการต่อสู้ของตัวเอง

ว่านี่คือการต่อสู้อย่างชัดเจน บริสุทธิ์ใจ ตรงไปตรงมา และที่สำคัญที่สุดพี่น้องครับ...
ให้พี่น้องจดจำและมั่นใจว่า เราไม่มีเส้นครับ...

...เราไม่มีเส้นครับ...

เราเกิดบนผืนแผ่นดิน เราโตบนผืนแผ่นดิน เราก้าวเดินบนผืนแผ่นดิน
เมื่อเรายืนอยู่บนดิน เราจึงห่างไกลเหลือเกินกับท้องฟ้า... พี่น้องครับ...

เมื่อเรายืนอยู่บนดิน ต้องแหงนคอตั้งบ่า แล้วเราก็รู้ว่า... ฟ้าอยู่ไกล...
เมื่อเราอยู่บนดิน แล้วก้มหน้าลงมา เราจึงรู้ว่า... เรามีค่าเพียงดิน...

แต่ผมแน่ใจว่า...
ด้วยพลังของคนเสื้อแดงที่มันจะมากขึ้นทุกวัน ทุกวัน
ขยายตัวเพิ่มขึ้น ทุกนาที ทุกนาที

แม้เรายืนอยู่บนผืนดิน แม้เราพูดอยู่บนผืนดิน
แต่จะได้ยินถึงท้องฟ้า แน่นอน!

เสียงไชโยโห่ร้องของเราในยามนี้ จากคนที่มีค่าเพียงดิน
จากคนที่เกิดและเติบโตบนผืนแผ่นดิน จะได้ยินถึงท้องฟ้า แน่นอน!

คนเสื้อแดงจะบอกดิน บอกฟ้าว่า... คนอย่างข้าก็มีหัวใจ...!
คนเสื้อแดงจะบอกดิน บอกฟ้าว่า... ข้าก็คือคนไทย...!
คนเสื้อแดงจะถามดิน ถามฟ้าว่า... ถ้าไม่มีที่ยืนที่สมคุณค่า...!
จะถามดิน ถามฟ้าว่า... จะให้ข้าหาที่ยืนเองหรืออย่างไร...!

เสียงไชโยโห่ร้องของคนเสื้อแดง จะได้ยินถึงดิน ถึงฟ้า...!

พี่น้องที่เคารพครับ แต่ไม่ว่าเราจะมีหรือไม่มีอะไร
เรามีสิ่งที่มีค่าที่สุดแล้ว ในแนวทางของการต่อสู้
คือจิตวิญญาณของประชาธิปไตย

และผมอยากจะกราบเรียนพี่น้องว่า
มีอยู่สิ่งหนึ่งที่ผมคิดว่าผมต้องทำ ตั้งใจแล้ัวว่าต้องทำ

ตั้งแต่นำพี่น้องอยู่ที่ด่านมะขามเตี้ยว่า สิ่งที่ต้องทำ และต้องแสดงออกกับพี่น้องที่รวมตัวกันอยู่ที่นั่น
หรือว่าไม่ได้ไปที่นั่น แต่ส่งใจมากร้อยรัดกันเป็นพลัง
ก็คือว่า พี่น้องครับ สำหรับความยิ่งใหญ่ของพี่น้อง
ทำได้อย่างนี้อย่างเดียวครับ (ก้มกราบ) ผมทำได้อย่างเดียวจริงๆ

ยิ่งใหญ่เหนือกำลัง ยิ่งใหญ่เหนือกำลัง คือ...พลังแห่งมวลมหาประชาชน..!
....


http://arayachon.org/forum/arayachon/992
http://asiapacific.anu.edu.au/newmandala/2010/04/27/the-speech-that-wasn’t-televised/
 

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Thai soldiers stand guard behind barbed wire close to the 'Red-Shirts' fortified camp in Bangkok. A large convoy of Thailand's "Red Shirts" left their fortified rally base in central Bangkok for the city outskirts on Wednesday, testing the government's nerve after it threatened a crackdown.
(AFP/Hoang Dinh Nam)​
 

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People watch as a Thai army soldier pulls razor wire across a road near the old airport in the northern suburbs of Bangkok, as troops and protesters faced off, April 28, 2010.​
 

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Thai army soldiers form a line behind razor wire as they face off with anti-government "red-shirt" protesters on a highway near the old airport in the northern suburbs of Bangkok April 28, 2010. Thai troops fired into the air near a convoy of anti-government protesters on Wednesday in an attempt to halt their convoy after they left their central Bangkok encampment for a "mobile rally", a Reuters witness said.
REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang​
 

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Riot police fire into the air to try and disperse anti-government "red-shirt" protesters on a highway near the old airport in the northern suburbs of Bangkok April 28, 2010. Thai troops fired into the air near a convoy of anti-government protesters on Wednesday in an attempt to halt their convoy after they left their central Bangkok encampment for a "mobile rally", a Reuters witness said. REUTERS/Sukree Sukplang​
 

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An injured man is helped by Thai military policemen in the rain after clashes between anti-government protesters and soldiers on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 28, 2010.​
 

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An anti-government aims his rock during clashes between anti-government protesters and soldiers on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 28, 2010.​
 

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Two military police officers run for cover during clashes between anti-government protesters and soldiers on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand Wednesday, April 28, 2010.​
 

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Thai soldier shot in clashes with protesters
ANUSAK KONGLANG
April 28, 2010

A soldier was shot in the head during a tense confrontation on Wednesday between Thai security forces and anti-government protesters in Bangkok that left 16 people injured.

The stand-off, which followed a period of relative calm in the city, came as hundreds of soldiers and police officers blocked a convoy of "Red Shirt" protesters who had left their fortified rally base in central Bangkok.

"One soldier was shot in his head," said army spokesman Major General Dithapron Sasasamit, adding that his condition was unclear. Officials said earlier that riot police and soldiers had fired warning shots.

Emergency services said 16 people were hospitalised in the clashes near Don Mueang International Airport in the north of the capital.

About 2,000 protesters had earlier moved out of their sprawling rally site in pick-up trucks and on motorcycles to travel to the north of the capital, which is under a state of emergency.

Thai media reported rubber bullets were fired during the face-off, and Red leaders accused troops of using "war weapons" against the protesters, who want immediate elections to replace Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government.

"It looks like a war. They are fighting with unarmed people," protest leader Nattawut Saikuar said from a stage at the site in Bangkok's commercial district that has become the focus of the weeks-long rallies.

"The government wants to lure us to go there so that they can come and disperse us here," added Nattawut, who warned earlier in the day that the Reds were "ready to fight to the death".

Street clashes earlier this month and grenade attacks last week in the heart of Bangkok have left 26 people dead and hundreds more wounded in the country's worst political unrest for almost two decades.

The Reds -- many of whom come from Thailand's rural poor and urban working classes -- have beefed up their defences with barricades made from truck tyres and bamboo stakes as they brace for a crackdown by security forces.

Raising the pressure on the embattled premier, the Constitutional Court agreed to hear a recommendation by an election body to dissolve the ruling party for alleged misuse of grant money, a court official said.

He declined to give a time-frame for the case but said Abhisit's Democrats would be asked to provide a written defence.

Abhisit said in an interview with the BBC Tuesday that he would step down if he believed he were an obstacle to stability.

He said the issues were "not a purely political problem. There are security problems involved, there are terrorist problems involved", adding that there was no imminent likelihood of martial law being declared.

Abhisit, regarded as elitist and undemocratic by his opponents, has rejected an offer by the Reds to disperse if elections are held in three months' time.

Army spokesman Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said Tuesday that security forces were ready and waiting "for the right time" to retake the Reds' rally area, which has paralysed traffic and caused many major hotels and stores to close.

Sunsern has previously warned protesters they could face real bullets in any new clashes and said troops had set up checkpoints to prevent people bringing in weapons to the confrontation zone.

The government says it has uncovered a network of people suspected of plotting to overthrow the kingdom's revered monarchy and is ready to round up alleged members. The Reds have denied involvement in any such plot.

Earlier, two grenade attacks hit a Bangkok bank and military checkpoint -- the latest in a series of blasts to hit politically significant sites -- but nobody was wounded, police said.

Britain has extended a warning against visiting Thailand, urging its nationals to avoid anything but essential travel to all of the tourist destination due to "violent incidents of an unpredictable nature".
© 2010 AFP
 

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'Red Shirt' anti-government protesters ride in the back of a pick-up truck as they leave the fortified camp for another rally outside the capital Bangkok on April 28, 2010.

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'Red Shirt' anti-government protesters leave their fortified camp for another rally outside the capital Bangkok on April 28, 2010.
 

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People watch as a Thai army soldier pulls razor wire across a road near the old airport in the northern suburbs of Bangkok, as troops and protesters faced off, April 28, 2010. Thai troops fired into the air near a convoy of anti-government protesters on Wednesday in an attempt to halt their convoy after they left their central Bangkok encampment for a "mobile rally", a Reuters witness said.

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Re: BANGKOK: More than 100K at 9pm. Many More Coming. JAMS 50km Long. ArbiSHIT SHITTI

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A Thai army soldier and an anti-government "red-shirt" protester shout at each other across razor wire as troops and protesters faced off on a highway near the old airport in the northern suburbs of Bangkok April 28, 2010.

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Thai soldiers move towards anti-government protesters during their clashes on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 28, 2010.

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Thai police officers fire their rubber bullet rifles during clashes with anti-government protesters on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 28, 2010.
 

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Re: BANGKOK: More than 100K at 9pm. Many More Coming. JAMS 50km Long. ArbiSHIT SHITTI

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Anti-government protesters hold police shields as they stand off with Thai soldiers, foreground, during their clashes on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand, Wednesday, April 28, 2010

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Anti-government protesters advance on police and military positions during clashes on April 28, 2010 in Bangkok, Thailand. Troops clashed with protesters after they fired warning shots in an attempt to halt a convoy of activists heading for a rally in a northern suburb of the capital.​
 
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