Emergency Declared as Thai Violence Escalates

Military and riot police separate protestors as violence leaves at least 1 dead.

ByABC News
February 26, 2009, 3:28 PM

BANGKOK, Thailand, Sept. 2, 2008 — -- Thailand Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej declared a state of emergency in Bangkok this morning in the hopes of ending the political turmoil that escalated to bloodshed overnight.

Continued pro- and anti-government protests resulted in at least one death in the capital city and dozens of other people were injured before police could quell the violence.

"I will do my best to normalize the situation as soon as possible," Samak said in a televised press conference today, according to the Bangkok Post.

Over the past week, protestors from the People's Alliance for Democracy have occupied the grounds of Samak's office, the Government House, calling for his resignation.

In other pressure on the government, the Election Commission has charged Samak's People Power Party with electoral fraud in last December's election and has requested that the party be dissolved.

Last night, the scene on the ground intensified, leading to violence. Protestors threw bricks and anything they could find on the street, including broken plant pots. Gunshots were fired, and shards of glass and broken pottery littered the ground in the area.

Demonstrators yielded sticks and slingshots and wore helmets for protection, along with yellow and red T-shirts to represent anti- and pro-government views.

Soon after the violence erupted, 400 military men clad in camouflage and 700 riot police arrived to placate and barricade the Government House area. The troops and police were all unarmed, hoping to reach a peaceful resolution, a request reportedly passed down from the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.

Thirty-five-year-old Or sat on a curb barefoot, facing the front of the grounds of the anti-government area. Wearing a black head scarf and tapping a stick to the ground, he said he is here from the south of Thailand to avenge his friend who was attacked.

"Yes, I will hit," he said.