Thailand’s anti-government “Red Shirt” movement has held a peaceful rally marking the anniversary of a street clash with the army a year ago that left 25 people dead.
The rally Sunday, at the same place as last year’s clash, also amounted to a pre-campaign rally for Red Shirt supporters ahead of general elections that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has pledged will be held by early July.
Twenty civilians, including a Japanese cameraman for the Reuters news agency, and five members of the security forces, including an army colonel, were killed when soldiers attempted to clear a Red Shirt rally site. The soldiers became bogged down as night fell and were attacked by protesters supported by gunmen dressed in black whose weapons included M79 grenade launchers.
