ความคิดเห็นที่ 26
 
What's mean?
BANGKOK, Thailand 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.
The chief of Thailand's armed forces vowed to use "every means to end the chaos." The demonstrators vowed a final stand unless Thailand's government resigns.
Two people were killed and more than 113 people
were wounded in the clashes as protesters fought bloody street battles with troops in the capital, then clashed with residents angry about the disruptions. Among the wounded were 23 government personnel.
Shopping malls shut their doors, foreign governments advised their citizens in Bangkok 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, but as the demonstrators tried to make their way back to their Bangkok base, deadly fighting erupted between them and residents. Hundreds of progovernment vigilantes were armed with machetes and clubs.
Earlier Monday, soldiers fired shots from automatic rifles and tear gas at protesters gathered at a major intersection leading out of the city; the demonstrators answered with gasoline bombs.
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 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.
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.
Thaksin, who lives abroad and faces a two-year prison sentence on charges of abuse of power if he returns to Thailand, said Monday on CNN that the government was concealing "many" deaths in the clashes. The government did not immediately respond to his assertion.
An antigovernment protester hugs a soldier as others cry while pleading for soldiers not to use violence against them in Bangkok, Thailand, on Monday.
[Associated Press]
From : http://www.tampabay.com/news/article992022.ece
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