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Thailand Protests Echo Those of 1992

By Robert Horn / Bangkok Monday, May. 17, 2010

On May 17, Thailand erupted in some of the worst violence in its history as the army launched a crackdown on protesters in Bangkok. The year was 1992, and the rallying cry was democracy. The demand of the mostly middle-class protesters was the resignation of an unelected Prime Minister. After four days of violence, with soldiers firing on unarmed demonstrators, 48 were dead and hundreds injured. The conflagration came to a close after constitutional monarch King Bhumibol Adulyadej used his moral power to intervene and democracy was restored. Many believed that the days of coups and revolutions in the streets were over in Thailand.

Eighteen years later to the day, Thailand is engulfed in even deadlier political violence. The rallying cry is once again democracy, and the demand is the resignation of a Prime Minister. The death toll since the protest began in mid-March is 65, and the number of injured is 1,200-plus. And the violence may not be over. While the fighting in 1992 was mainly limited to the old quarter of Bangkok, the government has now declared a state of emergency in 25 provinces. Protesters have occupied the commercial heart of the capital, and gun battles have erupted in several parts of town, with acrid plumes of smoke rising above the skyline as street fighters burn tires. "I never thought I would see this kind of conflict again in Thailand," says Karuna Buakamsri, who protested as a student leader in 1992 and is now a television newscaster. (See pictures of the showdown in Bangkok.)

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Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1989621,00.html?xid=thepage_newsletter#ixzz0oF0cNcEf