Thai "red shirt" protesters are leaving a satellite station they stormed today, Nattawut Saikua, one of their leaders, said.
Police and soldiers had fired water cannon and tear gas in a failed attempt to disperse thousands of protesters who climbed over rolls of barbed wire and forced open the gate of the compound, defying an emergency decree.
The protesters earlier breached an army cordon and demanded officials lift censorship of their TV channel in the first major confrontation in a three-day state of emergency.
Police and soldiers fired water cannon and tear gas in a failed attempt to disperse thousands of protesters who climbed over rolls of barbed wire and forced open the gate of the compound, defying an emergency decree and upping the ante in their broader push for fresh elections. The majority of protesters are now leaving the satellite station, one of their leaders told Reuters.
Most of the soldiers had pulled back from the Thaicom satellite station about 60km north of Bangkok, leaving the grounds largely in control of the protesters, supporters of former prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. The main building houses a satellite uplink facility broadcasting the "red shirt" People Channel.
Yesterday, authorities entered the station and seized equipment that took the channel off air, saying it was inciting violence. Other channels were not affected.
"We want our TV back. You cannot shut our eyes and ears," Jatuporn Prompan, a red shirt leader, said from the back of a truck after leading the protesters into the compound. But a Government spokesman said the channel cannot go back on air. "They are still distorting information and we cannot allow that," he told Reuters.
The protesters, who briefly besieged parliament on Wednesday, seized guns, batons, shields, bullets and tear-gas cannon from police and soldiers and displayed them at the station.
The army had warned of the use of force, including the use of rubber bullets, to enforce a state of emergency as thousands protested at the satellite station after government censorship of their TV channel.
An army spokesman had said forces would ensure there is no move to "seize" the station, urging residents to stay clear. He said about 3,000 people were heading towards the area.
Most analysts doubt the authorities will use force to remove the protesters from Bangkok's shopping area - a politically risky decision for Abhisit as his 16-month-old coalition government struggles to build support outside Bangkok. The protesters left there today were mainly women, children and old men.
The satellite station was still not broadcasting today but was available on some Internet sites via another broadcaster.
Bangkok was calm and life went on much as normal. Many of the malls in the central shopping and hotel district, where the red shirts have camped out since April 3, had reopened. The numbers of red shirts in the area, which have swollen to tens of thousands as the tropical heat dies away in the evening, dropped away to about 3,000 on Friday.
Security forces were not visibly deployed at the main rally site, although it is right in front of the police headquarters, opting to stay in their bases or on roads at least two kilometres away in an apparent attempt to avoid provocation.
Reuters
