The Thai election is scheduled for Sunday, 3 July after the House of Representatives was dissolved  on May 10, 2011. Slowly the political parties are starting their campaigns and most parties focus on winning the majority in Bangkok. There are over 150 candidates and all  bigger cities are flooded with huge campaign posters. (more…)

Today, the 19th of May marks an important day for Thailand as well as for me. Exactly one year ago the military cracked down on the Red Shirt Anti-government Protesters. I covered the event all day and saw many people dead, injured or filled with sadness. It was a long struggle – but where are we now? (more…)

The upcoming weekend will be very interesting. UDD leaders announced peaceful gatherings in Bangkok and Chiang Mai which will be observed by tight security. About 200 red shirts gathered this morning in Lat Yao at the Klong Prem Prison. (more…)

I have spent a lot of time with the Red Shirts protesters, especially in their huge camp area at Phafan bridge and in their fortress at Saladaeng. During my stay I caught a lot of interesting stories, here are some of them…

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Most people in Bangkok are calming down. Especially the last two days including the cleaning process by soldiers and citizens give the impression that Bangkok regained its safety – But is this the end of conflict?
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(Former primemister Thaksin’s Facemask in the middle of destroyed rallysite, burning flames of central world in the reflection of the water, 19. May 8:20pm)

It has been a very long day, but maybe it is the last day which is marked by so much violence. It started early in the morning. At 4am armored vehicles moved into downtown.

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The third day of the cleaning process by the military left several dead and injured. Various hot spots in Bangkok are open war zones with burning tires between barbed wire and live bullets coming from soldiers and protesters.

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After the first day of the crackdown several other locations in Bangkok have been new hot spots for violence. Main focus point on this day was Rama 4 which was covered by huge smoke clouds all day.
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Just a weeks ago there was a feeling of a relieve after Red Shirt leaders agreed with Prime Minister Abhisits negotiation plan. But more and more demands on both sides stopped this positive compromise. The army started to seal the Red Shirt rally sites on Thursday night. Barbed wire, armored vehicles and thousands of soldiers hiding in buildings and bushes confronting the remaining Red Shirts.

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I just came back from Hospital and carrying some new metal in my right arm. Unfortunately my broken bones from the gunshot during the protests grew back together in a wrong way – so I had to do surgery on Friday.
Everything went well but I had a lot of pain afterwards. It was a good decision to stay there for a few days because they supplied me with this heaven-like morphine injections. It was also very nice to meet Thansarut. A redshirt protester who was lying next to me. I did this interview with him yesterday…

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