<p>The controversy about foreign media coverage of the Red Shirt protests has prompted the Ministry of Culture into action. In an attempt to prevent incorrect information about Thai culture from being disseminated around the world, it has developed a method of counteracting the ignorance and bias of non-Thai reporters.</p>

<p>(23-05-10) I was informed that today police from the Crime Suppression Division led by Pol. Maj. Gen. Chakthip Chaijinda, searched my residence in Don Muang bringing with them an Emergency Decree arrest warrant. The warrant was issued pursuant to an incident on 21 May 2010 at 13.00, when I and Acharn Suthachai Yimprasert, in the name of the 24th of June Democracy Group, held a press conference in front of House No. 111 office. There, we made the following five demands:&nbsp;</p>

<p>In order to facilitate the government&rsquo;s policy of reconciliation to heal the divisions in Thai society after the recent conflict, a new Centre for the Reconciliation of All Parties has been established under the leadership of Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban. The CRAP objectives include the restoration of a normal situation throughout the Kingdom and the achievement of unity among the Thai people.</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>So you misspend your teenage years doing a bit of drugs and a bit of aggro, maybe more than a bit of drugs. You&rsquo;ve managed to stay away from the law but done rehab and they&rsquo;ve set the psychiatrists and their pills on you. And you&rsquo;re cruising along day-to-day, no future, no prospects but no worries.</p>

<p>The following is an eyewitness account of the demonstrations in downtown Bangkok over the past several days. In the wake of lost lives and massive damage done to infrastructure and buildings in the area, the government has claimed success in &ldquo;taking back the area&rdquo; from the Red Shirts demonstrators. Much attention has been diverted to the property damage, often overshadowing the human cost of the clearing operation.</p>

<p>Uncle Noi is a mobile fruit vendor. He peddles his fruits on a pick-up&nbsp;truck which has a small loud speaker attached to it. Dogs would bark&nbsp;at his arrival as unmistakable sign of his presence.</p>

<p><strong>An open letter to the Thai Government and UDD</strong></p> <p>On May 14,2010, &nbsp;just one day after Thailand was elected with land slide majority of 182 votes out of 192 members of the United Nations to sit in the UN Human Rights Council (of which the total number of members is 47) the Thai Government seriously breached its own commitments and pledges made during the campaign for the seat. In the campaign, the PM.Abhisit Vejjajiva has committed that &ldquo;<em>&hellip;I can &nbsp;reaffirm that this Government will address problems relating to freedom and liberty and human rights on the basis of accepting them as reality. This is the first crucial step so that every agency, including civil society, recognizes the need to cooperate in seriously solving the problems&hellip;if the Government or state officials do not learn how to respect human rights themselves, problems will never end. What I would like to see from now on is right understanding and right perspective, and to push ahead in the promotion and protection of human rights&hellip;</em>&rdquo;. The Prime Minister further confirmed that &ldquo;<em>I am confident that even if obstacles still remain in the economic, social, political or legal aspects, but if people are ready to reach out to one another as fellow human beings, that will be the beginning of our success in ensuring the effective enjoyment and safeguard of human and freedom and liberty</em>&rdquo;.</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>Late one night at the end of last month &ndash; an April night in which the scent of blood from the impending crackdown threatened to fill the air &ndash; a woman in her seventies made her way awkwardly through the crowd of demonstrators. She sat down among them before pulling out a bag containing a slingshot and glass marbles, which she had kept hidden underneath her top, to the delight of her aged friends sitting nearby.</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>Right now, the heart of Bangkok has become a war zone.&nbsp;</p> <p>The noise of gunfire is deafening, soldiers are lining up and shooting to disperse protestors. The protesters flee in all directions, then respond by lighting homemade rockets, firecrackers, and aim their slingshots at the soldiers.</p> <p>Today (14 May) the clashes between soldiers and the red shirts took place in many areas. The first of these was around Lumphini Park, Saladaeng intersection, and Wireless Road underneath the Thai-Belgium overpass. Then the clashes spread to Bon Kai intersection, the area in front of the Lumphini police station, Ratchaprarop and Pratunam.&nbsp;</p> <p>News came almost immediately of the rapidly increasing number of casualties.&nbsp;</p> <p>Nobody can say when the war in central Bangkok will end.</p>