Red shirts, soldiers ready

Barricades set up as both sides armed to attacked

The red shirts barricaded all six entrances to their protest site on Rajprasong intersection yesterday after the government made it clear that it was waiting for the right opportunity to use force to disperse the tens of thousands of protesters.

However, Saladaeng intersection, adjoining Silom Road and Lumpini Park, had the heaviest barricades set up by both sides.

Dozens of soldiers, armed with M16A1 semi-automatic rifles and other weapons, were seen occupying 100 metres of the elevated walkway above Silom Road. They also started piling up car tyres as barricades yesterday evening, hung black plastic webbing on the elevated walkway to cover their positioning and placed razor wire at a number of spots on the street below.

On the other side, the red shirts put up two layers of bamboo fences and car tyres with two lorries blocking the street opposite Silom Road, which leads to Rajprasong intersection. Dozens of red-shirt protesters armed with sharpened 1.5-metre-long bamboo poles were seen standing guard behind a barricade of motorcycles.

Still, despite the impending violence, spirits among the hundreds of red shirts manning the barricades remained high.

The Nation