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Renegade General Khattiya Sawatdithol, was reported dead on Monday by Thai news media. Khattiya had sided with the red shirt protesters in their conflict with the current government.
Khattiya's shooting on Thursday led to an intensification of the violence, which has ravaged Thailand and Bangkok in particular.
Heavy firing was heard in one of the several violence affected areas og Bangkok. The current violence is the most brutal and the longest conflict in Thailand in many years.
Residents were trapped in their homes and some took shelter in the basement of the five-star Dusit Thani hotel. “We didn’t know where bombs and bullets were going to come from,” said a television reporter who was trapped inside the hotel.
The red shirt protesters demanding the resignation of the current government and the holding of new elections had taken over the core of Bangkok’s commercial district six weeks ago. The official death toll since Thursday rose to 35, with 244 injuries reported, the Erawan emergency center said. That brings the total up to at least 60 since the protests started.
The violence began after protest leaders rejected the government offer of early elections, their initial demand, saying that they would settle for nothing less than the immediate dissolution of the parliament. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva later withdrew the offer and put an end to negotiations. He then ordered troops to blockade the protest site but not invade it.
Earlier on Sunday, the government had offered a safe passage to protestors who wished to leave the downtown site that they had kept occupied for 6 weeks. Protest leader, Nattawut Saikua also said those who wished to leave were free to do so. He also offered to remove the militant protestors from the street if the government promised to reciprocate the gesture by removing its troops. His condition of having United Nations mediate the talks was rejected outright by the government because such a condition would have legitimized the protesters as an internationally recognized party in talks.
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