Bangkok Songkran 2009 Riots

A collection of images and a personal account from the Bangkok Songkran 2009 Riots taken in the Soi Rajaprarop / Pratunam Intersection in Bangkok, Thailand.

Bangkok celebrated the first day of the Thai New Year (Songkran) with yet another day of rioting and civil disobedience by Red shirted UDD protesters. Troops from the Thai army had multiple confrontations throughout the day with the demonstrators, the Din Daeng Intersection, Victory Monument, Soi Ragnam and Soi Rajaprorop all witnessed some of the most intense disturbances to date as this color coded conflict was rapidly turning into what most would describe as 'civil war'

I'm neither a photographer or journalist and will not pretend to be, so I will just copy and paste something I jotted down to remind me of another crazy day in my life.

'Songkran' 2009! Not a normal one at all!

Songkran started normal and stayed that way for about the time it took me to walk to my balcony and see that the Red shirts were in control of a LPG tanker and had so nicely parked it under the expressway no more than a couple of 100 meters from where I normally enjoy the days first cup of coffee. They seemed a little uncertain about what to do and where to take the tanker. I went for my camera, but by the time I was ready to shoot they had moved off. Not long after, the first reports that the demonstrators had captured several LPG's started to trickle through the media. What a start to the day.

A quick check at thaivisa.com and some other sources and I knew that things had a very good chance of turning very nasty indeed. The Reds were on the move and heading slowly in my general direction. Force had already been used, which meant that it had more chance of being used again This was too much to take in before coffee so I jumped back into bed and hid under the covers. I was just dozing off again when I was woken up by multiple gunfire salvos followed by an explosion and a short power outage. 2 more explosions were then heard. Ok Ok, I grab the camera and head up to the roof, funny that the sound of gunfire when basically only air separates the bullets and you sounds a lot more threatening. I grab a few shots (with my camera) and beat a hasty retreat.

Back in the safety of my apartment I slap a curfew on myself. I'm an avid photographer and hang out sometimes in the Photography Forum which is a nice corner of this forum to hang out actually. Anyway here I am pretty much stuck in the middle of a developing major crisis. I did the smart thing and stayed put, when you can hear the gunfire rattling around the neighborhood and explosions, see and smell the smoke in your apartment then you start thinking that things maybe are a little too close for comfort and that the live version of events going on out in the street are in fact the same as those that are coming out out of the television (I was trying not to think about the LPG I saw in the morning, now located only a block away.)

I spent most of my self imposed curfew on thaivisa.com giving a few reports and reading others reports, views and opinions and generally gleaming information. It's a pretty surreal situation and I'm itching to go down and take some unique Songkran shots, only the occasional sound of gunfire is stopping me.
I can't get out and about as much as I used to, but a great photographic chance was just outside my door and I knew that I wouldn't forgive myself if I let this opportunity go by. I sat it out a bit longer and then threw caution into the wind and ventured outside. It seems that I timed my outing pretty spot on, the Red's had just retreated to Government House, thus eliminating a major risk element from the whole scenario. The reds fled the scene as soon as I turned up, that's what it felt like anyway :). Now, only myself a few locals and a couple of reporters were the only people facing the army lines.
Coming from my apartment where I had followed events both live and via the media with the most amazing surround sound, to be actually standing on the street in front of the lines of tired troops was probably the most surreal situation I have ever found myself in. So far.

The troops had finally taken control of the area and were taking a well earned breather. I was on the outside and decided to make the most of it and took the snaps you see here. Funnily enough I've have many a time said to my wife "Be careful, It's dangerous out there". That turned out to be all too true on Monday.

Unfortunately Songkran 09 will never be remembered for its flowers, water fights and people enjoying themselves in this neighborhood.

Thailand miraculously pulled itself back from the brink on Monday. Let's all hope that the Thai people and all their leaders use this apparent 'peace' to discuss, listen and learn from all the mistakes that have been made and hopefully will be able to prevent scenes similar to what have been witnessed over the last few days from repeating themselves again. It could have been worse, and many expected it to be. Luckily things didn't turn out so bad.
Total respect for the way the situation was handled, a remarkable feat indeed for any leader.

Sabai Dee Pee Mai (Happy New Year) 09 to all, it's so nice to see so many people actually enjoying this Songkran, I suppose also in my own way I have enjoyed mine. Another truly 'Amazing Thailand' experience in the book for sure.

Chok Dee Thailand (good luck Thailand)

That was my personal account of April 13th Bangkok, Thailand