Monk - I saw Thai army shoot monk and people at Din Daeng

April 16, 2009

Filed under: 2009 Posts, Crime, Human rights, Thailand, Thailand current events — John Le Fevre @ 10:46 pm Tags: 14th Asean summit, Abhisit Vejjajiva, “Red-shirts”, “Yellow shirts”, Buddhism, Democrat Party, Human rights, Human rights abuse, PAD, People’s Power Party, Peoples Alliance for Democracy, Phak Puea Thai, Thailand, Thailand Constitutional Court, Thailand current events, Thailand Government House, Thailand military, Thailand politics, Thaksin Shinawatra, United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship



"Sajja" says he saw Thai soldiers shoot a monk and around 10 other people at Din Daeng on April 13, 2009 and then remove the bodies and wash the road (face obscured by request over personal safety concerns). Photo John Le Fevre


A Bangkok monk says claims by the Thailand government that the army only fired blanks at red-shirted pro-democracy supporters at Din Daeng last Monday are not true and that those shot include a Buddhist monk.


The accusations by the head monk of a Bangkok city temple come despite repeated claims by Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Veijajiva that the only fatalities from the government crack-down on pro-democracy supporters were the result of clashes between protesters and residents in the Nang Lerng market area on Monday (April 13th) night.


The monk, who chose the pseudonym “Sajja” (the word truth in Thai) for his safety and asked that his temple not be named, said he went to the Din Daeng area around 6.00am on April 13 after hearing reports of clashes earlier that morning between the Thai army and red shirt protesters.


“I was standing about 200 meters away and the soldiers started shooting at people who were on the street. They were not wearing red shirts and there was no protesting happening at the time.
“I saw people falling down when the army was shooting at them and others run away. One of those who fell down was a monk and there was also some children there. I don’t know which temple the monk was from. I saw the soldiers pick about 10 people up off the ground and load them into a large pale-blue, almost white coloured van and then they hosed the blood off the road,” he said.


Mr “Sajja” said that while he could not be sure the people loaded into the van were dead, there was no noise coming from any of them that he could hear.
“Later I went to the soldiers and asked them why they had shot those people and they didn’t answer me. They just loaded bullets into their guns and made signs for me to move away”.
Prime minister Abhisit has repeatedly claimed that the rioting that followed the state of emergency declaration on Sunday (April 12th) has been handled using “soft measures” and that no protesters had been killed by the Thai army.


Claims that the Thai army only fired over the heads of red shirt protesters is reputed by this photo clearly showing soldiers at Pratunam taking aim. Photo John Le Fevre
This has been supported by statements by Thai army spokesman Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd who said on Tuesday (April 14th) that “if the protesters show that they intend to hurt the officials, we will use military training rifles on them with blank bullets made from paper, which will not hurt the protesters.”
Mr “Sajja” said the bullets he saw being loaded into guns at Din Deang looked like real bullets to him. He said he was not a military expert but the description he provided was that of metal-jacketed live ammunition as opposed to the very distinctive colour of training rounds or blanks.
“I’m not a soldier, but I know what blood looks like. I was very shocked to see them shoot these people and especially sad to see a brother monk shot,” the elderly monk said.


Meanwhile the opposition Phak Puea Thai (PPT) party today opened a complaints desk at the party’s head office to collect the names of those shot or missing after clashes with security forces earlier in the week.


Puea Thai officials take a statement from relatives of a man shot by Thai soldiers on April 13.


Prakal Riddiloy, a PPT complaints officer said “we know many people have been killed, hurt or are missing after the military action earlier this week. We intend to raise this matter as soon as parliament opens next week.”


The state of emergency and clash between red shirt protesters loyal to fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and government troops was the latest in a long-running back-and-forth battle over Thailand’s political future following the ouster of the elected People’s Power Party government of Thaksin Shinawatra by a military coup d’état in September 2006.
Late last year hundreds of thousands of tourists were stranded after both of Bangkok’s airports were seized by yellow-shirted so-called People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) supporters.
The siege ended when Thailand’s Constitutional Court disbanded the ruling People’s Power Party (PPP) under changes to Thailand’s constitution introduced by the military junta in 2006.
Following the de-registration of the PPP a number of former government coalition members, including members of the PPP, switched sides enabling the Democrat Party lead by Mr Abhisit to form government. Those PPP members who did not change sides formed the PPT party.
The so-called “red shirts” formed under the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), a group with close links to Shinawatra, first laid siege to Thailand’s Government House on March 26 demanding prime minister Abhisit dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
The UDD stepped up its campaign against the government of Mr Abhisit with a mass rally on April 8 which attracted over 150,000 people.


On April 11 thousands of red shirt protesters caused Thailand enormous loss of face when they stormed the luxury Royal Cliff Hotel and Resort in Pattaya forcing the 10 Asean member heads of state plus those of six regional dialogue nations to flee and the 14th Asean Summit to be postponed.



ENDS:© John Le Fevre, 2009
Photo_journ’s newsblog by John Le Fevre