Thailand's anti-government protest turns bloody
Updated
Thailand's anti-government protestors known as the Red Shirts have splashed blood at the gates of Government House as a symbol of the death of democracy. The protestors, many of whom support ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra lined up to give blood, as the anti-government rallies entered a fifth day. Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has rejected a demand from protesters to quit and call elections. So far the protests have been peaceful.
Presenter: Conor Duffy
Speakers: Bunsung, Thai taxi-driver; Sophie Chillandong, Thai protester
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DUFFY: Here at the protest site on the fifth day, the Red shirt supporters are queued back a few thousand deep, waiting to go into white tents that have been set up with medical staff inside to take their blood donations. Once the blood is drawn, it's mixed into a large bottle with the blood of their comrades. Enough to say it's quite a queasy site to see it being swirled around for the cameras in the way that it is.
But 50-year-old taxi driver Bunsung is undeterred and is amongst those waiting in line.
BUNSUNG: I came to donate blood and I want to throw it at Government House.
DUFFY: Back at the main stage the Red leaders are continuing with their rhetoric that they're going to force out Abhisit Vejjajiva. But the numbers here have dropped considerably. In the last two days there's been what appears to be more than a 100,000 people crammed into this square. Now it appears the number has reduced by at least two thirds.
Despite the reduced numbers there's still been no reduction in noise; as I walk to Government House where the blood id to be spilt there's an estimated 30,000
Reds also on their way with monks blessing them as they walk past.
Here at the front entrance to Government House I'm standing behind a thin barricade separating tens of thousands of protestors and thousands more police with riot shields. The protestors are carrying the blood in huge bottles sloshing around over their heads and they're trying to force their way to the barricade.
The incredible throng of protestors pushing through here has forced police to open one of the gates and now a small group of Red shirt supporters in the front are pushing forward into police. They've managed to push forward to the last gate entry to Government House and they've linked arms and are refusing to move. The police and army have in turn encircled them.
Protestors have now poured hundreds of litres of blood on the ground and it's congealing on the ground, it's also slid underneath the gate to the Thai Parliament, that's the last barricade where hundreds of riot police with shields are standing by. It's slid underneath their feet and they're now standing in massive puddles of blood.
CHILLANDONG: My name is Sophie Chillandong.
DUFFY: And you were with the group that managed to push through and spill the blood, do you think that's achieved much?
CHILLANDONG: It's mean a lot to us. I'm here I used to live in America 23 year, five years ago when I came economy is, was very good. And know everything is upside down that's why the Red shirt cannot take it.
DUFFY: While they eventually forced their way through with the blood, the Reds didn't achieve their aim though of forcing the Prime Minister and his cabinet to walk on it. Public health teams worked through the night to clear it away.
The Reds numbers are also dwindling and with Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's coalition partners reaffirming their support for his government they have a long way to go to force fresh elections.
