Hope returns to Bangkok

Volunteers clean black charred road on Ratchadamri

A steady stream of news is coming out of Bangkok, Thailand, about efforts to cleanup the mess that resulted from the confrontation between government forces and red shirt protesters. There's a lot of work to be done because of the fire damage around the city—protesters set barricades of old tires on fire in multiple locations. Here are some of the encouraging tweets I'm seeing on my Thai news list:

• RichardBarrow Coca Cola giving out free drinks to people on Silom! http://twitpic.com/1q7ejh
• RichardBarrow Volunteer cleaning a Silom Road sign. http://twitpic.com/1q7erv
• RichardBarrow Cleaning Silom McDonalds which will re-open tomorrow. http://twitpic.com/1q7hvh
• RichardBarrow Cleaning graffiti from Lumphini Park walls. http://twitpic.com/1q7k60
• babyfishie What used to be Saladaeng inner barricades... #cleanupBKK http://tweetphoto.com/23579297
• vaitor thousands of volunteers helping in cleaning process at rally site this morning // bts + mrt are open and running // tonights curfew unclear

British Anarchist in Bangkok

Central World on fire

In mid-April, News in Bangkok wondered about Anarchists in Thailand:

One aspect about political protests in Europe (not sure about America) is always the presence of anarchists – sometimes dressed in the traditional red and black but more commonly masked and hooded to reduce the risk of being identified, the anarchists are so determinedly opposed to the state that they will take any opportunity to try to bring it down through violence. When there is a political protest in a progressive cause, the anarchists tend to join in on the fringes with their own program of violence; when the protest is reactionary, they might instead attempt to intimidate the protestors or anyone else through using or threatening violence.

Yet we do not seem to have any anarchists in Thailand (unless, as Esther Rantzen might say, you know different[ly]). Of course, some people would argue that all Thai people are at heart anarchists anyway (Thai means ‘free’) and joke about road usage and so forth. In any case, most protests in Thailand attract a wide or at least fairly wide range of different interests. The pro-democracy UDD demonstrations, for example, include leftish progressives (many of whom deeply disdain the capitalism of Thai Rak Thai), Thaksin supporters (these categories are not all mutually exclusive), the rural dispossessed, those upset with the corrupt and brutal Democrat rule, former Communists still wondering when Prem is going to keep his side of the bargain (never, is the answer to that one), labour activists and so on and so forth. The only people who can be accused of anarchic tendencies would be Maj-Gen Seh Daeng Khattiya and his supporters but it must be contradictory being any kind of anarchist in the rigidly hierarchical Thai military forces. Some of the PAD associates appear to be deeply unpleasant and heavily-armed sociopaths, of course, but that is not the same as being an anarchist.

Are there any Southeast Asian anarchists (he asks having thought about this briefly and not done any research at all – hey, it’s a blog not a journal)?

Based on the video below, the answer to that question would seem to be: no, but there's a British anarchist in town. The narrator in the video refers to the Brit in black as a "farang" which is slang for "foreigner" in Thailand.

Cross Coverage:

• British anarchist caught urging Red Shirts to burn and loot mall
• The Brit thug of bloody Bangkok

Dawn to Dusk Coverage of Bangkok on May 19th

Dawn-to-dusk footage from the Bangkok crackdown from reporterinexile.com

WARNING: the video above is GRAPHIC in parts (blood, dead people, and bloody dead people from 4:35 to 5:25). ReporterInExile.com produced the video above and has more background.

Fabio Polenghi

Boston.com has this photo and caption of Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi:

Freelance photographer Fabio Polenghi, 48, of Italy lies on a stretcher at Police Headquarter Hospital Wednesday, May 19, 2010, in Bangkok, Thailand, after being shot during a government crackdown on anti-government protestors. Polenghi was later pronounced dead by Thai doctors. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)

While the red shirts espouse a non-violent transformation of Thailand's political establishment there is at least one group associated with them that is willing to use violence to achieve their ends: the black shirts. The Thai Army would naturally be suspicious of anyone in a black shirt. This is why rule #2 from Andrew Marshall's Bangkok Safety Tips is: "Wear light clothes, e.g. white top, light brown trousers. Avoid wearing black which is intimidating." To be a bit more direct, don't dress in a way that would lead one side in a conflict to see you as a nefarious assassin. It's possible that Fabio was wearing body armor or some other outer layer (like many other journalists); however, the camera bag still strapped on him suggests otherwise.

Rest in peace, Fabio.

Update:

Photo District News reports that Polenghi was wearing a bulletproof vest when he was shot:

Polenghi was shot in the stomach when police rushed a barricade where protesters were gathered. AP says that according to other journalists at the scene, Polenghi was wearing a bullet-proof vest. He was rushed to a hospital, but doctors were unable to save him.

Cross Coverage:

• New York Times picture of the day
• Funeral for Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi May 24th
• A report from The Right Perspective

Al Jazeera on the Unrest in Thailand

Al Jazeera's English language channel posted the above panel discussion on the unrest in Thailand. It's 24 minutes and there's some "inside baseball" about the Thai system of government, but I think the moderator does a good job of getting the panelists back on topic. That inside baseball also provides some insight into the subtleties and history of the problems in Thailand.

Boston.com has an excellent photo set.

While Bangkok Burns

The Nation's State has photos from the unrest in Bangkok. The slingshots are a bad idea.

By the way, I setup a Twitter list to better follow breaking news out of Thailand. Checkout: www.twitter.com/dsm012/thai-news

Journalists in the midst of Thailand's Unrest

Veteran photographer for The Nation, Chaiwat Phumpuang, is evacuated after being shot in the leg

The Nation reports on the injury of one of their photographers:

Chaiwat, an award-winning lensman who has worked on many political crises including 'Black May' in 1992, was shot in the leg while recording the action in the Rajprarop area, which has been declared by the military as a "live firing zone". A bullet smashed a bone and he ended up being sent to Phya Thai 1 hospital. He had just come back to work a few weeks after suffering partial paralysis.

...

Chaiwat is the fourth journalist casualty in the latest rampage. On Friday three journalists from France 24, Matichon and Voice TV were wounded in clashes between government forces and protesters.

Andrew Marshall has some advice for journalists in Bangkok:

Three journalists were among the dozens of people injured in today’s violence in Bangkok. Courtesy of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand (FCCT)—which lies inside the Red Shirt protest site at Rajaprasong—here are some safety tips for reporters working in this increasingly dangerous city. I should stress that this is not an official FCCT comminique, but is based on advice from a security consultant. (Nor is it my advice.)

1. Consider if you really need to put yourself in the fire-zone for your story.

2. Wear light clothes, e.g. white top, light brown trousers. Avoid wearing black which is intimidating.

3. Carry a first-aid kit, spare mobile batteries. Wear Kevlar if you have it. Under a top is better as you look less official. Bicycle helmets are good for head protection as they are thick and shrapnel will have further to travel through it.

4. If you hear a blast TURN AWAY FROM IT crouch with your back to it cover your head and stay that way for several seconds. Shrapnel can travel for hundreds of metres. If you can take cover do so, but be aware that secondary bombs are often placed at the most obvious cover.

5. Keep to the footpaths. Avoid open places and shops with plate glass windows.

6. If there is gunfire take cover and observe where the line of fire is travelling. E.g., is it random, sniper fire, travelling towards you (in which case you could be the target), or near to a person who is.

7. You have more safety in crowds. They absorb blasts and shrapnel.

8. If you see something happening, people shooting, etc., and want to take a look, be sure to look behind first otherwise you may inadvertently put yourself in the line of fire of someone who is behind you.

9. Do as much as you can to make yourself look neutral. Wear a flower. Make a point of smiling at the soldiers, protesters, etc.

10. If a hand grenade lands near you (which is possible) they normally have a 3-5 second fuse. Throw yourself on the ground face-down with the soles of your feet pointing towards the blast. Wear shoes with thick soles as these will prevent the shrapnel from traveling too far up your legs. Tuck in your chin, stick your fingers in your ears and open your mouth – this will help prevent your eardrums from bursting. Wear a small rucksack. Stick a few A4 pads in it. This will help stop shrapnel.

11. Avoid wearing jewellery. If you’re near a blast, it gets turned into shrapnel and gets embedded in you.

That’s it. Stay safe out there.

Update: Why do journalists put themselves at risk? I think in many cases they do not realize that they are in danger until there's little to be done. Nick Nostitz had this experience on May 15th and provides a riveting first hand report and photos from the killing zone:

Naked terrible unbelievable fear

Leadership: Seh Daeng

Khattiya Sawasdipol, also known as Seh Daeng, is a 58 year old leader of the red shirts in Bangkok Thailand. He had just begun an interview when he was shot. The reporter, Thomas Fuller, who was interviewing Seh Daeng is interviewed above about the shooting. "Leader" is another word for "target". I suppose it's always been this way.

If you just learned about the unrest in Thailand, I highly recommend this summary of the political and security situation.

Here are a couple of reports on the shooting of Seh Daeng:

Sniper 'targeted Khattiya from high-rise'

A sniper who shot Maj-General Khattiya Sawasdipol on Thursday appeared to have used a Winchester rifle with a .308 bullet and fired it from a tall building, a military expert said.

The expert said the bullet, which struck Khattiya on the right temple before passing through his throat and the back of his neck, was travelling at an angle of between 45 to 75 degrees.
"This can only mean that the sniper must be a real pro and stalking Seh Daeng from a tall building," he said.

Khattiya collapsed unconscious the moment he was struck by the bullet at around 7pm, right in front of the underground MRT Silom station. He was rushed to Hua Chiew Hospital before being transferred later to the Vajira Hospital. He is now in a critical condition. Only a miracle can save his life, according to medical sources.

An informal investigation into the shooting of Khattiya reveals that he was talking to reporters with his face turned towards Wireless Road. The sniper could only have hid himself on one of the high floors inside either the Dusit Thani Hotel or the adjacent building on Rama IV Road.

Khattiya propelled himself into the second generation of the red-shirt leadership after Jatuporn Promphan, Veera Musigapong, Natthawut Saikua and Dr weng Tojirakarn wavered in the face of growing pressure from the Abhisit government. Khattiya was quite carefree during his routine surveillance of the Sala Daeng area, where the red shirts had set up barricades to protect their Rajaprasong encampment.

A replay of the incident pointed to the possibility of a set-up. Khattiya was giving an interview. The video camera of a reporter started to roll and the light from the camera beamed on his face. Within that second, Thomas Fuller, a correspondent of the New York Times who was about a metre away from the general, heard a loud noise like a firecracker lighting up the sky.

In his report for the New York Times' Thursday edition, headlined "Thai General Shot; Army Moves to Face Protesters", Fuller wrote: "The reporter, who was two feet away and facing the general, heard a loud bang similar to that of a firecracker.

"The general fell to the ground, his eyes wide open, and protesters took his apparently lifeless body to a hospital, screaming his nickname: "Seh Daeng has been shot! Seh Daeng has been shot!"

The loud bang that Fuller heard possibly came from a firecracker - not the gunshot from the Winchester .308 rifle, which was equipped with a silencer. The sniper fired his shot within the second when he could see Seh Daeng clearly with the help of the light from the video camera.

Political observers said there are several theories behind the assassination attempt on Khattiya.

First, he could have been a target of revenge from a military regiment called Phayak Burapha, which lost the battle badly on April 10 against the red shirts. In that battle, the Phyak Burapha lost Colonel Romkhlao Thuwatham.

Second, hardcore elements of the red shirts wanted to strike down Khattiya so that the ensuing upheaval would go out of control and in the end a national government could be formed as a compromise.

Third, the military or the government in power wanted to eliminate him to dilute the hardcore element within the red-shirt movement.

Thai General Linked to Protests Is Shot in Head During Interview - NYTimes.com

A renegade major general who allied himself with the protesters who have paralyzed Bangkok for weeks was shot in the head and critically wounded here on Thursday as the military began sealing off a barricaded encampment of antigovernment protesters.

The general, Khattiya Sawatdiphol, 58, had become a symbol of the lawlessness and impunity that have torn Thailand apart as the protests have pitted the nation’s poor against its establishment.

He was shot during an interview with a reporter for The New York Times about 7 p.m., one hour after the military announced the start of a blockade and cut off electricity and water to a tent city of thousands of protesters.

The reporter, who was two feet away and facing the general, heard a loud bang similar to that of a firecracker.

The general fell to the ground, his eyes wide open, and protesters took his apparently lifeless body to a hospital, screaming his nickname: “Seh Daeng has been shot! Seh Daeng has been shot!”

More news on the unrest in Bangkok, Thailand:

Asia Society has photos and a voice-over about Thailand's political crisis

Video: Molotovs and Machine Guns in Bangkok | GlobalPost

Young Thais, faces cloaked with bandanas, are chucking molotov cocktails at troops. Small caliber bullet holes are punched through street signs. Old tires are set aflame and rolled toward troop positions and barbed wire is strung across what should be busy thoroughfares.

@tulsathit

Hope all reporters injured today will be recovered soon.

I called it. @aleithead

From cameraman DC: "Sathorn on fire." Burning tyres all the way along the road - troops seem to have pulled back. Reds taken control of rd

As always happens.... @TAN_Network

Their Majesties the King and Queen to pay for medical bill of those injured in today's clashes

BBC News Video - Reporter travels to the heartland of the red shirts

BBC News Video - Violence returns to the streets of Bangkok

The Nation's State has a good set of annotated photos.

Bangkok Pundit has frequently updated coverage of the situation.

Reports of power and internet outage. And stay away from windows. Bullets go through them and explosions shatter them turning the glass into shrapnel.

Bangkok Unrest: Missile Command Edition

Red shirts play real-life missile command against helicopters from Humphrey Cheung on Vimeo.

Red shirt protesters are not well equipped, well trained, or well funded, so they have to improvise. In the clip above you can see them launching fireworks at Thai Army helicopters in an effort to ward off the choppers. I'm not sure how effective this is, since the fireworks give away the position of the red shirts so ground-based Thai Army units can respond.

Oh, and don't forget, never bring a laser pointer to a gun fight.

Summarizing Thailand's Security

G. M. Greenwood has an excellent summary in Asia Sentinel of Thailand's Multiple Revolts. This is a good place to start if you're trying to come up to speed on the unrest there. I've added links to additional information, but otherwise this is all Greenwood:

The spectre of civil war is now routinely discussed as a possible outcome to Thailand's now-systemic political and social crisis. This is an improbable outcome in the current phase of the protest cycle given the widely differing and frequently opposed expectations, grievances and fears that underpin the motives and issues driving the country's protracted political instability.

Thailand is not simply experiencing a binary struggle between pro- and anti-government forces but is in the midst of a complex series of revolts that now involve much of the population and most institutions. The depth and force of commitment may vary, but disentangling the now exposed divisions between classes, regions and within key organisation cannot be dealt with through a superficial compromise between already discredited political leaders.

The crisis, which began for the more perceptive members of the country's traditional elite in January 2001 with Thaksin Shinawatra's first election victory, now defines Thailand's political and social system.

Thaksin's massive popular reaffirmation in the February 2005 polls, an existential threat to Thailand's established order, ignited a series of revolts that now engulf the country. These largely passive rebellions are largely concealed by the noisier narrative that Thailand's crisis is a simple struggle between the impoverished, neglected and marginalised countryside seeking redress from the wealthy, distant and disdainful city.

The now familiar colour-coded ur-revolt – reds, yellows, with occasional sightings of blues, pinks, as well as the ever-present green of the military, the mysterious and murderous ‘blacks' and the growing involvement of saffron-clad Buddhist monks – give an impression of order and symmetry. In reality, the Thai crisis more closely represents at its present stage the ‘million mutiny' phase of social and political upheaval rather than the coherent coalescence and radicalisation required to move general disorder into nation-breaking anarchy.

Rather than presenting unified ideological or structural fronts, the organic components of the Thai drama have often conflicted beliefs and sentiments towards the other players and within their own groups.

The professional military leadership may, for reasons of conviction and ambition, be firmly aligned to maintaining the status quo. The army, in particular, is traditionally in a near-permanent state of revolt against any civilian government – which includes Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's creaking administration that owes its position to military leverage. The military is also divided within, with many senior officers seeking advantage over intra-service rivals while doubting the willingness of enlisted personnel to act decisively against their own class.

These competing tensions are regarded as responsible for the army's reluctance to support successive governments in restoring order – either against the pro-establishment yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) when they occupied Bangkok for months in 2008 or now against the red version of this similar strategy.

The much reviled police are, by contrast, seen as supporting the Red Shirts – no doubt partly due to Thaksin's links with the force that he served for many years, but also because of the animosity between the police and the military. The police, therefore, have frequently failed to act against the Red Shirts out of solidarity and against the well-connected yellows out of professional reticence and the fear of personal retribution.

Even the monkhood is riven between what many junior clergy appear to view as the contradiction between Buddhism's high status at the apogee of Thailand's elite pantheon and its mission to bring succor to country's most disadvantaged. This raises the possibility that some of the clergy may take to the streets with reds, much as Buddhist monks did in Burma during the doomed 2007 anti-government protests.

The reds' appeal to the rural population of the northern and northeastern provinces reflects economic, class, social and even ethnic divisions between the hardscrabble lives most lead, in contrast to the reality and perceptions of those in distant Bangkok. Ideological mobilisation may be evolving, but the principal catalysts for revolt are for improved personal outcomes based on more stable income, affordable health and education provision and freedom from usury and indebtedness.

Assuring such expectations - raised and partially met by Thaksin - is the most readily achievable resolution at an economic and administrative level, but opposition to such largesse from the country's still narrow tax base stirs counter-revolts.

The yellows – created, funded and protected by the military, the aristocracy, bureaucracy and largely ethnic Chinese urban professional and commercial classes – represent the status quo and reflect an unwillingness to share status and wealth with the masses. This group forced Thaksin and his successor governments from power by staging a protracted revolt in 2008 that, unlike the reds, drew no warnings that the country faced civil war.

The unintended consequence of the Yellow Shirt uprising was to produce an operational and moral template for the reds to follow and use to claim the protection of precedence. Until the first fatalities occurred in Bangkok in April, the red case was beginning to receive more favorable – or at least sympathetic – coverage in the mainstream Thai media, revealing conflicted opinions within the elite.

The ‘royal institution' – the respectful term used to refer to the monarchy – is at the heart of the present national melee. King Bhumibol Adulyadej, hospitalised since September last year, made a rare public comment in late April in which he repeated a message to the nation's judges to do their work well.

The king's failure to deliver even a runic phrase or comment that could be directly linked to the present crisis and serve as a keystone in forcing compromise between his divided subjects has disappointed and confused many Thais and foreign observers. However, the king's call to uphold the law may also be interpreted as a warning to the country that without a recognizably equitable legal system Thailand faces a future dictated by the arbitrary use of power and force, with the unspoken implication that it will be unmediated by a benign monarch.

Such après moi le deluge sentiments and the king's removal from worldly events – which may be viewed as a regal strike - can be added to the numberless revolts that now characterise Thai society.

This maze of passive and active revolts complicates any resolution to the crisis. Millions of Thais have incrementally abandoned or ignored the bonds – or shackles – that had traditionally defined relations between classes and within the country's key institutions. In the absence of any new charismatic leader emerging - Thaksin is extremely unlikely to return to Thailand and prosper - who can complete either the red agenda of mass democracy or enforce the yellow intent to reserve political power for a small elite, Thailand risks slipping into an era of sullen apathy that leaves grievances to fester and petty ambitions to flourish. The response to such a period, which may well combine Burma's ruthless authoritarianism with Cambodia's past displays of hysterical nativism, may serve as the precursor for a coherent populist revolt that could violently shatter Thailand's mythic national consensus for generations.

Update: Thanks for the link, Glenn! It's truly an honor to be mentioned in a post along side Michael Yon. Here are some additional resources for following the unrest in Thailand:

• Here's a Google map with a timeline (the April 10th clash seems to be missing, so I suspect others are missing, too), but this should give you a good spatial and chronological overview
• DavidInFormosa's Asia-News list on Twitter, especially @tulsathit, are great for live coverage
• @WizardofWindsor also has great live coverage
• boston.com has a some amazing photos

A Path to Peace in Bangkok?

Thailand's The Nation reports on the latest peace overture from Prime Minister Abhisit:

Is the light at the end of the tunnel that of a train coming our way? The answer depends on how the red shirts, who have been tired, dispirited and discredited, respond today to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's unexpected offer to hold a general election on November 14.

The light at the end of the tunnel well could be a train since ABC Radio Australia reports that some are predicting a civil war in Thailand:

Leading global think tank the International Crisis Group says Thailand's political system seems incapable of ending violent protests that have gripped Bangkok for two months.

Nonetheless, there is hope that a compromise can be reached, as The Nation story continues:

Optimists say the Rajprasong occupation may even end in a day or two. They see Abhisit's offer as a carrot being dangled before demoralised red leaders who have had their personal well-being threatened by possibly serious legal action and their image smeared by the Chulalongkorn Hospital invasion, arms seizures, as well as alleged links with armed militants.

The real "stick" is yet to come. On Sunday, an emergency Cabinet meeting was called to approve the possibility of an armed crackdown, which would almost surely be accompanied by terrorism charges against key leaders, who already face lesser accusations of violating the state of emergency law.

Bangkok Hospital Evacuates Patients

ABC Radio Australia News: Thai hospital evacuates patients amid protests

A hospital in the Thai capital Bangkok has evacuated some of its patients after protesters forced their way into the grounds looking for soldiers they thought were there preparing an attack.

More than 200 "Red Shirt" protesters burst into the grounds of Chulalongkorn University Hospital, located next to the encampment of anti-government protesters, late on Thursday night.

They reportedly left after roaming for an hour through the grounds without finding any soldiers. Protest leaders ruled out a return to the hospital grounds today to make sure there were no troops left.

"We have told them it was an inappropriate move. We truly apologise for any inconvenience caused," protest spokesman Weng Tojirakarn told reporters.

Observers say the incursion raises concerns about how much control the leaders have over their followers at the sprawling protest site in Bangkok.

Citizen Journalist Gets the Shot

These four frames are from a video of the April 10th, 2010, red shirt protest in Bangkok, Thailand. The protest turned violent. The government claimed that only teargas and rubber bullets were used; however, the video from my first post on the unrest in Bangkok leads me to believe that live ammunition was used. In the slideshow above I've highlighted in green the location of a rooftop sniper who was shooting down into the crowd. In the video you can also hear gunfire that correlates with this sequence. In the fourth frame, I've highlighted in red what I mistakenly thought was a bullet impact. After reviewing the clip, I'm certain that the flash in the red circle is from the strobe of a camera's red-eye reduction.

Here's the complete video. There are shots from the roof at 0:18 and 0:50.

At this point, all sides in Thailand seem to be working toward a peaceful settlement. That settlement is complicated by several factors:

1. The unidentified rooftop sniper(s) discussed above
2. Soldiers loyal to the red shirts having fired on fellow army officers
3. The possible involvement of red shirts (UDD) in the grenade attack earlier this week

My most up to date comments about this story are on Twitter.

Unrest in Thailand

Red Shirts building a fort in Bangkok, Thailand, originally uploaded by newleypurnell

Tuesday I got word from a friend in Bangkok, Thailand, that tensions were escalating between the pro-government yellow shirts or Peoples' Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and the followers of Thaksin Shinawatra known as the red shirts or United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD). I spoke to him that evening to get some background and links on the situation. At present, the red shirts have built a "fort" near Central World Plaza and units from the Thai army loyal to the government are encamped two blocks south on Silom Rd. The red shirt "fort" is several meters high and appears to have been assembled from old tires and bamboo. That seems unwise, since some red shirts are carrying Molotov cocktails.

On April 10th, the situation in Thailand took a turn for the worse when the Thai army tried to clear the red shirts from one of their make-shift camps in Bangkok. There are allegations that snipers on rooftops opened fire on the protesters. Over twenty people were killed, including several Thai soldiers, and over 800 people were wounded. WARNING: The following video is EXTREMELY graphic! An unarmed, flag-waving red shirt is shot and killed on April 10th.

While a calm has returned to the city, so to have red shirt reinforcements. The red shirts are predominantly farmers and lower class workers while the yellow shirts are predominantly business owners and middle class workers. The BBC has an overview of both sides and the issues. After the April 10th clashes, people sympathetic to the red shirts began joining their camps often bringing materials that could be used to fortify those camps. The violence also led one blogger to observe that: "[t]he Thai government appears to have mindlessly shot its way in a corner."

However, the situation is more complicated than that. As the clashes began on April 10th, one top military commander was targeted and killed by assassins and two others were maimed. These leaders were primed for promotion later this year leading the Asia Times to speculate:

The sophisticated nature of the targeted attacks, including the use of laser-guided spot and shoot teams, and the apparent leak of confidential information concerning troops' plans and formations, has suggested to analysts possible military involvement in the assaults. Officials have claimed that "terrorists" rather than rogue soldiers orchestrated the violence. But the uncertainty has raised critical new questions about army unity at a pivotal juncture in the country's violently escalating five-year-old political conflict. 

Towards the end of the week there was a call for martial law to be imposed. However, the Siam Daily News reported over the weekend:

The Center for the Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES) has declined a necessity for the government to declare martial law in order to control the current situation.

CRES and Army Spokesperson, Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd, said the current enforcement of the state of emergency is adequate to maintain peace and order within the kingdom; however, security officers need to enforce the law against those violators more strictly and in a straightforward manner.

Nonetheless, the United States, Australia, and other nations have issued travel alerts for Thailand as a result of the state of emergency there. The Thai army's decision to switch from rubber bullets to lethal ammunition has probably also contributed to those travel alerts.

The violence is not limited to Bangkok. A car bomb exploded injuring at least ten people in Thailand's southern province, Pattani. Thai Photo Blogs reports that a policeman was killed in a separate attack: "A grenade followed by a car bombing killed a policeman and wounded 60 people in Thailand's restive Muslim south on Wednesday, the latest attacks in a bloody six-year conflict."

Perhaps unrelated... six Afghanis posing as Nepalese were apprehended in Kolkata, India. The Times of India reports:

The six — Karim Ali, Kasim Ali, Fayez Ali, Golam Reza, Muhammad Yasin, Mohammed Ismail — were booked on a Kingfisher flight to Bangkok. When they reached the airport on Tuesday morning, the immigration official on duty suspected that the passports were forged. 

Further Reading:

• DavidOnFormosa's Asia News Twitter feed
• BBC: Stand-off in Pictures
• Bangkok Post
• BBC: Asia-Pacific