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Gunfire Becomes New Norm In Thai Capital
A security agent stands under a stage as protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban addresses anti-government protesters in their encampment in central Bangkok, February 25, 2014. PHOTO BY REUTERS/Damir Sagolj
By Pairat Temphairojana
25/02/2014
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Shots fired by unknown gunmen on Wednesday rattled parts of the Thai capital where anti-government protesters have set up camp for weeks, with small but occasionally deadly bombs
and gunfire fast becoming the new norm in the city.
No one was wounded in the shootings in the central commercial area of Bangkok, although five people were killed in weekend violence in the city and the eastern province of Trat, four of them young children.
National security chief Paradorn Pattanathabutr said there had been no reported deaths or injuries in the incidents in the early hours of Wednesday.
"As for the perpetrators, we still don't know who they are," he told Reuters. "Recently we have been seeing more incidents like this happening more frequently ... It is noticeable that there are incidents like this every day."
The protesters, whose disruption of a general election this month left polarized Thailand in political paralysis, aim to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and erase the influence of her brother, ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen by many as the real power in the country.
The protesters want to set up an unelected "people's council" of the good and worthy to oversee vaguely defined political reforms before new elections are held.
Occasional contact between the two sides, amid calls for putting an end to the violence, have so far led to nothing.
Thailand announced a slump in trade figures on Tuesday with the biggest drop in imports in more than four years in January, the political crisis extending its economic toll beyond falling tourism numbers.
Imports fell 15.5 percent in January from a year earlier, the biggest tumble since October 2009. Imports of computers and parts were down 19 percent from a year earlier, auto parts were off 31.8 percent and consumer goods down 5.3 percent. Exports dropped 2 percent.
(Additional reporting by Aukkarapon Niyomyat; Writing by Nick Macfie; Editing by Alan Raybould and Paul Tait)
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