Things escalated to a whole nother level today. This morning, at the crack of dawn, army troops in armored tanks entered one end of the rally site in order to clear out the protesters. There were some violent clashes, with at least 4 people dead and over 50 people injured - http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/178397/troops-armoured-vehicles-converge-on-silom. Following this, 7 top red-shirt leaders turned themselves into the authorities, while a handful of other leaders fleed the area, and maybe even the country. This happened at about 1pm this afternoon - http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/05/19/politics/Rajprasong-rally-ends-30129764.html. Red shirt protesters, believing that their leaders were forced by the government to surrender, took the streets. It’s at this point that things turned bad, really bad.

At this point, 12 buildings have been listed as burnt - http://www.nationmultimedia.com/home/2010/05/19/headlines/Major-arson-attacks-at-12-locations-around-Bangkok-30129795.html. Central World, which is one of the biggest malls in Asia, was set on fire and authorities believe that it might collapse. The Channel 3 tv station building, one of the largest networks in Thailand, The Stock Exchange of Thailand and the Metropolitan Electricity Authority headquarters were also hit. 4 Bangkok Bank branches were burnt. The Bangkok Post building was also burnt. Newspapers haven’t reported the amount of casualties and injuries throughout the day. The smoke from the fires was visible from almost any vantage point in the city, essentially putting the entire city under smoke. If companies and businesses hadn’t closed yet, they now officially are. The entire city is pretty much on lockdown.

Due to this, the government declared a city-wide curfew starting at 8pm and ending at 6am. The scene the couples hours before curfew was one of an oncoming storm or natural disaster. 711’s, supermarkets, and family mart’s were raided for the essentials - beer, rice, and chips. All stores fronts were closed down. All streets were emptied. Everyone was tense and nervous, waiting for what will happen next.

I will keep updating as things change. As of now, I’m still safe. I will most likely be leaving the city tomorrow, but that could change.

Protests in pictures from BBC - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/asia_pacific/10125452.stm