The Red Shirt protest - A personal diary - Part 7: 19. May 2010 - the crackdown

Links:
The Red Shirt protests - Part 1: Prologue and March 2010 - at Phan Fa-bridge
The Red Shirt protests - Part 2: 01. - 17. April 2010 - the first crackdown
The Red Shirt protests - Part 3: 18. - 20. April 2010 - the barricade and the arrival of the security forces
The Red Shirt protests - Part 4: 21. - 30. April 2010 - Mob Rules
The Red Shirt Protests - Part 5: 01. - 14. Mai - grausamer Mai/ "Cruel May" - พฤษภาอำมหิต- Teil/Part 1 - (German Version, only English captions, headlines and some English text translations)
The Red Shirt protests - Part 6: 15. - 18. Mai - "Cruel May" - พฤษภาอำมหิต - Part 2
The Red Shirt protests - Part 8: 21. May 2010 - after the crackdown


Zur DEUTSCHEN Version



19. May - The Crackdown



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Intersection at Sathorn Road/Rama IV Road


At 5.50 AM we arrived at the military base at Sathorn/Rama IV intersection. The first army unit with armoured vehicles had already entered the Lumpini Park to clear out Red Shirt pockets of resistance.


6.06 AM

6.08 AM

At 6.08 AM the second army unit entered the Lumpini Park from our position to secure the area.

At 6.09 AM a mostly unarmed police unit followed the soldiers into the Lumpini Park. There only job was to conduct the arrested Red Shirts away.

6.13 AM

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Lumpini Park

When we entered the park together with the police forces there were still gun battles going on.
6.21 AM

At 7.49 AM the barricade at Sala Daeng was burning. Shots and explosions could be heard.

Soldiers in front of "our" police unit had a few final gun fights before they finally cleared out the last pockets of resistance. No prisoners taken so far!
7.51 AM

The long waiting for the army's final attack on the Red Shirt camp began.
7.59 AM

While we were waiting a police officer told us on the quiet:"Our unit is not from Bangkok, we are from the south. Please believe me, most of us don't want to be here. Those protesters are Thais, we are all Thais. This is not right! We really don't wanna do this."
8.50 AM

9.00 AM

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Sala Daeng intersection


Between 10.00 and 10.15 the Royal Thai Army started Sala Daeng their final assault on the Red Shirt camp.

10.28 AM

10.30 AM

10.39 AM

10.40 AM

10.42 AM

10.45 AM

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Ratchadamri Road


The burning barricade near the Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital.

10.57 AM

10.58 AM

Two of the many victims of May 19th.

10.59 AM

The victim in the front of this picture was shot in the head from the rear. His nose is missing completely. Maybe he was executed.

Around 11.00 AM the Italian potographer  FABIO POLENGHI was hit by a high velocity bullet and died on his way to the hospital.
a disappointing inquest into fabio polenghi's death

Fabio Polenghi, 01. May 2010, picture taken by an unknown photographer

We came under attack from inside the Lumpini Park. Obviously the "Great Army Command" forgot to issue the order to secure the cleared out areas. The soldiers left Lumpini Park uncovered and Red Shirt fighters re-entered the area and started new attacks on the armed forces.
11.23 AM

Devastating a monks encampment and a buddhist shrine.
11.35 AM

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Sarasin Road


The arrested Red Shirts and BYSTANDERS were handcuffed and blindfolded before being deported by police units. One weeping woman explained to a french camera team that she is not a Red Shirt, she is just living nearby and was selling food when the attack begun.

12.16 PM

12.17 PM

Only abbots are allowed to remove the robes and to defrock monks, soldiers are definitively not! These soldiers were committing a sacrilege.
12.19 PM

12.20 PM

12.21 PM

Between 13.00 and 13.15 PM six M79 grenades exploded near our position at Sarasin-Ratchadamri intersection. At least one soldier died, another was heavily wounded, and the photographer and journalist CHANDLER VANDERGRIFT was seriously injured. The soldiers left him for dead because he was unconscious. He was rescued by other journalists and volunteers.
13.31 PM

13.51 PM

13.57 PM

In the whole area the radio communication was jammed by the army and Nicola had to do radio reports and interviews and to write reports for her newspapers, so we left the combat area at 14.10 PM that day. We had seen enough violence for a day anyway.

The bus station at Ratchadamri Road had melted by the heat of the burning barricades.
14.23 PM

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End of Part 7


Links:
The Red Shirt protests - Part 1: Prologue and March 2010 - at Phan Fa-bridge
The Red Shirt protests - Part 2: 01. - 17. April 2010 - the first crackdown
The Red Shirt protests - Part 3: 18. - 20. April 2010 - the barricade and the arrival of the security forces
The Red Shirt protests - Part 4: 21. - 30. April 2010 - Mob Rules
The Red Shirt Protests - Part 5: 01. - 14. Mai - grausamer Mai - Teil 1 (German Version, only English captions, headlines and some English text translations)
The Red Shirt protests - Part 6: 15. - 18. Mai - "Cruel May" - พฤษภาอำมหิต - Part 2