<p>CRES spokesperson Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said that Chulalongkorn academic Suthachai Yimprasert had the right to go on a hunger strike, which must make him hungry, but insisted that the CRES was authorized to detain him under the Emergency Decree.</p>

<p class="rteleft">On 23 May, hundreds of red shirts from various districts of Kalasin, Sakon Nakhon and Mukdahan attended the funeral of Akkaradej Khankaew, or the &lsquo;small person&rsquo;, one of six people killed during the carnage in Pathumwanaram Temple on 19 May.</p>

<p>Kamolkade Akkahad was 25 when she was shot dead inside Pathumwanaram Temple on 19 May. &nbsp;She was called Kade by her friends, but was Moo (pig) to her family members, as she ate a lot and was plump, according to her mother.</p>

<p>SPIEGEL correspondent Thilo Thielke was in Bangkok the day the Thai Army cleared the Red Shirt camps. It was the last day he would work with his friend and colleague, Italian photojournalist Fabio Polenghi, who died from a gunshot wound.</p>

<p>(New York, May 25, 2010) &ndash; The Thai government should set up an independent commission to carry out a prompt, comprehensive, and impartial investigation into abuses by all sides during the recent protests and hold accountable all those found responsible, Human Rights Watch said today.</p>

<p>According to Mr. Sarayuth Ampan who was shot by firearm into his arm while hiding himself in the rear part of the white medic van with clear signs, some demonstrators who had started to gather around Bon Kai area on Rama IV Road were running away into Soi Ngam Du Plee, off Rama IV Road. The army officials were chasing after them. As the demonstrators had gone into other smaller lanes, the army officials approached the Pinnacle Hotel&rsquo;s parking lot where the medic van was parked with its head facing the road.</p>

<p>As some hardline red shirts vowed to go underground to fight a violent war against the government and the old elite, other, pro-peace red shirts met to discuss how to carry on the struggle peacefully.</p> <p>Sombat Boon-ngam-anong, a key member of the red-shirt movement who led protests from a minor stage in the Din Daeng area for a few nights after the main protest site was cordoned off by the military before the crackdown on Wednesday, said he had met with some 300-plus red shirts on Thursday to discuss the future of a peaceful struggle.</p>

<p><em>Samaphan Srithep or Cher, 17, was fatally shot at Soi Rang Nam on 15 May. &nbsp;His elder sister wrote about him on her Facebook.</em></p> <p>I often thought of him as a &ldquo;badly brought up&rdquo; kid. He was annoying, impertinent, had a gift of bad timing. He was also provocative, and a bit unhinged.&nbsp;</p> <p>I had even thought that if he carried on this way, he would probably &ldquo;die before he has lived.&rdquo;&nbsp;</p>

<p>The deteriorating Thai political situation has made the &ldquo;land of smiles&rdquo; the object of constant curiosity among friends and colleagues in Britain. Thailand also has begun to trend online and it is now the international press&rsquo;s favorite country to talk about. It is right up there with the likes of the New York bomb plot and the fiscal crisis in Greece. One has to only pick up a copy of The Economist to realize that they now run articles on the crisis in Thailand on a weekly basis. &nbsp;</p>

<p>1. In brief, since 13 May, the government has launched the so called &ldquo;Operation Ratchaprasong&rdquo;. Basically, all utilities feeding the area (electricity, tap water and even mobile phone signal have already been cut or jammed). Checkpoints have been set up in the perimeter around the area for about five square kilometers to exclusively block any group/individual from entering the protesting site and even to prevent the transportation of food and water inside the rally site.</p>

<p>On 15 May, Anan Sirikulwanich, a red shirt who was shot in the throat by an M16 during the 10 April clash, died at Central Hospital. &nbsp; His body is now at Phlab Phla Chai Temple, Pavilion 4, and the cremation ceremony will be held on Tuesday 18 May.</p> <p class="rteleft">He is survived by his wife and a daughter who is studying Matthayom 6, or the last year of high school.&nbsp;</p>

<p>As I entered Wireless Road yesterday |afternoon, the posh street was uncharacteristically quiet except for the occasional gun shots and the noise of helicopters hovering above.</p>