Barricaded Bangkok: Firemen douse a fire at a barricade of Lumpini Park put up by anti-government protesters in downtown Bangkok, Thailand, on Wednesday. Thai troops opened fire Wednesday into the fortified encampment of anti-government protesters in downtown Bangkok, ramming armored vehicles into its tire-and-bamboo barricade in what appears to be a final crackdown after a week of deadly clashes. (AP/ Manish Swarup)
Downtown Bangkok became a raging battleground Wednesday as the army stormed a barricaded protest camp and toppled the Red Shirt leadership, enraging demonstrators who fired grenades and set fires that cloaked the skyline in a black haze.
At least two protesters and an Italian news photographer were killed. Two other foreign journalists and 15 Thais were wounded in the fighting.
The Red Shirt protest leadership surrendered to authorities Wednesday afternoon and the army declared itself in full control, but violence raged on afterwards.
Surreal scenes of warfare erupted soon after dawn in one of the ritziest parts of the capital, a city of 10 million people, as troops armed with M-16s converged on the central business district.
The chaotic end to the Red Shirt campaign is certain to deal a heavy blow to the economy and tourism industry of Thailand, a key US ally and long considered one of the more stable economies of Southeast Asia. The Red Shirts are demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government, the dissolution of Parliament and new elections.
At least 42 people have been killed, most of them civilians, in a week of violence in Bangkok as a military attempt to blockade the protesters - who had camped in a 1-square-mile (3-square-kilometer) for more than four weeks - instead touched off street fighting, with soldiers firing on protesters who fought back mostly with homemade weapons.
On Wednesday afternoon, seven top Red Shirt leaders turned themselves in, saying they cannot see their supporters being killed anymore.
"Brothers and sisters, I'm sorry I cannot see you off the way I welcomed you all when you arrived here. But please be assured that our hearts will always be with you," Nattawut Saikua, a key leader, said as he was being arrested.
"Please return home," he said.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn declared the first stage of the army operation to secure the area around Lumpini Park successful.
But the advance was stalled by sniper fire from Red Shirts, Associated Press journalists saw. Bullets flew overhead and several grenades exploded near the soldiers, forcing them to pull back and take cover briefly before pushing forward.
By mid-afternoon, the army announced it had gained control of the protest zone and the operations had ended - nine hours after troops launched the pre-dawn assault.
"Police officers and soldiers have now stopped their operation," army spokesman Col. Sansern Kawekamnerd said.
Despite the army statement and the surrender by the leaders, many enraged Red Shirt protesters refused to give up.
Rioting spread to other previously unaffected areas of Bangkok and the northeast of the country. A high-end shopping mall, Central World, was set on fire and smoke was seen rising from several places in the capital.
There were also reports that the Red Shirts had set fire to government offices in the northeastern province Udon Thani and vandalized a city hall in Khon Kaen, also in the northeast. Udon Thani's governor asked the military to intervene.
Earlier Wednesday, sharpshooters with armored shields took up positions on an elevated rail track as troops marched past upscale apartment buildings and a hospital to retake the area around manicured Lumpini Park, which has been under the control of the so-called Red Shirt protesters camped there for weeks.
Associated Press writers Thanyarat Doksone, Jocelyn Gecker, Vijay Joshi, Eric Talmadge and Chris Blake contributed to this report.
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