ที่กรุงเทพฯ 13 เมษายน 2552 วันนี้เมื่อ 11 ปีมาแล้ว ...

Andrew MacGregor Marshall

@zenjournalist

Eleven years ago today. Bangkok, April 13, 2009. Red Shirt protests against the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva had forced an Asian summit in Pattaya to be abandoned on April 11.

Nine foreign heads of state — including the Japanese and Chinese leaders — fled from the roof of the Royal Cliff Hotel by helicopter. It was a humiliation for Abhisit and his government. Anti-government protesters returned to Bangkok. The regime decided to try to crush them.

Army chief Anupong Paochinda was from the Queen’s Guard, as was his deputy (and successor, and now puppet prime minister) Prayut Chan-ocha.On the night of April 12, the troops stationed in the Din Daeng area to the east of government house were replaced by soldiers from the 2nd Infantry Division Queen’s Guard, the royalist army regiment that had come to dominate the military power structure.

The royalist troops proceeded to launch an all-out pre-dawn assault on Red Shirt protesters at Samliem Din Daeng east of Victory Monument on April 13, under the command of Colonel Romklao Thuwatham, a rising star in the Queen’s Guard.