Fighting raged Wednesday around Bangkok's Wat Pathum temple, where as many as 1,500 people took shelter amid the chaos.
The Globe's Mark MacKinnon was one of two foreign journalists inside the Buddhist temple and nearby peace park, which was surrounded by Thai troops. Here is his description of the scene, filed amid gunfire in a series of brief phone calls and Twitter updates.
Bullets were whizzing over the temple. Tear gas was in the air. Several people were shot within the walls of the compound, which is normally considered a sanctuary.
Medics in a makeshift medical area behind the temple said seven people were dead and another 10 were injured. For hours, the Red Cross couldn't get an ambulance in because of continued gunfire. Late in the night, however, a ceasefire was negotiated to allow the wounded — including a British journalist — to be taken away in ambulances.
A wounded man leaves Bangkok's Wat Pathum temple in an ambulance. — Mark MacKinnon/The Globe and Mail
Inside the temple, the air was filled with smoke and terrified residents — mostly women, children and elderly people — sought help from journalists, asking them to contact their embassies.
"You can go, right?" one asked a Globe reporter. "Take me!"
People had set up makeshift beds on straw mats. Food and water were in short supply.
Civilians were begging for the UN to protect the temple. “Is the UN coming?” one asked.
After Thai troops successfully cleared the main Red Shirt camp in the centre of Bangkok on Wednesday, Thais took refuge in the temple, which is located inside the encampment area. The troops moved behind a line of armoured personnel carriers, firing live rounds at anti-government protesters who continued to burn barricades in their path.
Mobile readers: Click here for Mark's Twitter page
Thai protesters hide behind truck after a bullet whizzes through Wat Patum temple compound. Globe correspondent Mark MacKinnon sent these pictures from inside the compound.— Mark MacKinnon/Globe and Mail
After Red Shirt leaders gave themselves up to police, rioters set fires at the stock exchange, several banks, the electricity authority's headquarters, the high-end Central World shopping mall and cinema that burned to the ground. In all, more than two dozen buildings were torched. Firefighters retreated after protesters shot guns at them, and thick smoke drifted across the sky of this city of 10 million people. Sporadic clashes between troops and protesters continued into the night. There were also reports of looting.
In addition to the death toll at the Wat Pathum temple, wire services reported that six people were dead and several dozen injured. Journalists are among the casualties: Italian freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi was killed in gunfire and Canadian freelance journalist Chandler Vandergrift was seriously wounded in a grenade blast.
Rioting also spread to the rural northeast of the country, where the bulk of the Red Shirt demonstrators are from. Local media reported that protesters had set fire to government offices in the city of Udon Thani and vandalized a city hall in Khon Kaen, also in the northeast. Udon Thani's governor asked the military to intervene. TV images also showed troops retreating after being attacked by mobs in Ubon Ratchathani.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva tried Wednesday night to reassure the country that the government would restore calm.
“I am confident and determined to end the problems and return the country to peace and order once again,” he said in a televised address, adding that troops had been given the go-ahead to shoot at suspected arsonists.
