Harrow County School for Boys

BANGKOK 17.00 May 19th (six hours after army re-occupy the area)

I have just walked down Silom Road. There are still six APCs parked there. Each has a twin machine gun turret on top. These were not used this morning, at around 09.00 when the authorities restored order at Lumpini. Water cannon were used to drive the mob back. Then the APCs drove a path through the barriers. The mob fled back down Rajdamri. Tear gas was fired and so were shotguns and rifles. But the casualty figures show that soldiers were ordered to use minimum force.

Bulldozers and BMA trucks are making a priority of clearing the rubber tyre and bamboo stave barricades. It will all be gone soon.

Walking up Rajdamri, it resembles the site of a pop festival that has suddenly and unexpectedly ended. There is abandoned bedding, mats and tents. Even motorcycles, fans, TV sets and electric generators – these are already being salvaged by BMW workers. Boxes of food, bowls of boiled eggs, opened packets of instant noodles, many sacks of fresh vegetables, bottles and tanks of fresh water, power generators. They planned to stay a long time. How did the supplies keep coming in?

More sinisterly a box of petrol bombs with fuses in, all ready for use. Piles of rocks ready for use as missiles. And before the mob left, they smashed light fittings, bus shelters and torched a mobile toilet bus. And how did that get there?

I was able to walk up as far as Rajdamri – Soi Sarasin junction, when soldiers waved me back and I heard one shot fired a distance ahead.

Lumpini is quiet now. There are still plumes of smoke rising from the Lumpini Expressway area. I am told that Central World is on fire and there are fires in other parts of the city.

A curfew has been declared at 20.00 tonight until 05.00 tomorrow.

Let us all hope that life will begin to return to normal in this great capital of this great country.

Stephen Frost
19 May 2010
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BANGKOK Friday 21 May 3-5pm (two days after army re-occupy the area)

I got off the bus outside the Stock Exchange on Asoke Road. Fire damage appears to be limited to the centre and left side of the building on the ground floor only. Repairable. Outside, the signage is smashed as are the glass panels at the underground line station.

Yesterday, I drove past the Channel 3 building on Rama 4 Road - substantial damage here broken glass panels, fire damage, not sure about the inside. I thought the Maleenont family were close to Thaksin? No other nearby building touched - an example of selective targeting (see below).

Walked down towards Klongtoey and turned right into Rama 4 Road. Here damage is far more severe. Three bank branches trashed or burned out. Bangkok Bank, Kasikorn Bank and SCB. Two seven 11s gutted/wrecked/looted. Several ATMs ripped out of the wall. Total of five shophouse units gutted by fire. A six storey Metropolitan Electricity Authority building appears totally gutted by fire. Orange-clad MEA workers are on ladders working hard restoring cable connections. Private shops or businesses untouched. Reds clearly told which target companies' property to attack and which not to attack. Smoke damage to underside of expressway flyover where tyres burned underneath. Expressway police box burned out. Pedestrian access only to this area. Occasional motorbikes.

Walked down Rama 4, turned right at Rajdamri. Lumpini Park and Rajdamri Road has been cleaned up since I walked down there the afternoon of May 19, seven hours after the area was re-taken. All the salas, tents and bedding and food supplies bulldozed into piles ready for collection. All the motorbikes, TV sets, power generators and fans, have gone, I assume salvaged by BMA workers. Several cars and pickups left behind. Smoke damage to underside of elevated skytrain - I assume this will have to be checked by engineers. Bulletholes in a dumped VW (nice car), and a carpark guard box. Burned out mobile toilet bus has gone.

Soldiers again stopped me at junction of Rajdamri and Soi Sarasin, so I turned right along Sarasin. Detritus on road and on pavement. Abandoned bamboo barricades (who taught them how to make that X shape for strength?)Turned left into Langsuan. All appears normal here, apart from one or two ATMs ripped out and one Seven 11 boarded up. One private restaurant with windows smashed. Met Barry Petersen (Joint Foreign Chambers) and Nikki Cox (New Zealand Chamber) . Continue onwards to junction Langsuan/Chidlom.

Central Chidlom is closed but seems untouched. Two torched 10 wheel trucks totally burned out at the junction. Evidence of tyres burned in the road – again smoke damage to elevated skytrain will have to be assessed. Turned left and walked along past Maneeya and seems untouched. In particular, MacDonalds and foreign branded shops not touched. Reds were clearly given instructions as to which company’s property to target.

Erawan shrine being cleaned. Then we see Central World. What a shock. The left side tower is still there but an area to the right of it has collapsed completely to ground level. Right side 50% of the building (i.e. Isetan side) appears untouched. Could this half of the building be saved? Up to the engineers to decide. Gaysorn has a few broken windows/bulletholes that is all. Big C also damaged, did not look inside. Army then ordered everyone to leave the area. I think left side 50% of Central World will have to be demolished at once. Collected redshirt and scarf souvenirs. Noticed a long rank of portable toilets, a signing in table (collect your daily 500 Baht) and a message board.

Soldiers say cannot go down top of Rajdamri. Walked back down Langsuan a bit and cut across to Rajdamri, no problem. Noticed long line of 32 portable toilets (who supplied them? Who paid for them?) - water plumbed in from a fire hydrant. A few petrol bombs with fuses in, lying in the gutter. No spent cartridge cases (picked up already?). Cleanup proceeding on Rajdamri. All tents and salas flattened now. All bulldozed into piles for easier loading into BMA trucks. Anything salvageable (on Wednesday saw motorbikes, fans, TV sets, power generators) has gone except for a few cars and pickups.

The cleanup will have to go on, maybe a week or so. Skytrain will have to be examined for structural damage. Central World will take a year or so to rebuild (that's how long it took to rebuild Central Chidlom after the 1995 fire)

Stephen Frost
21 May 2010