Bangkok residents: This is a 'mini-civil war'
May 19, 2010 -- Updated 0547 GMT (1347 HKT)
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Residents anxiously wait and watch as troops move in to disperse protesters
- A hotel manager says his business had no guests
- Bangkok governor fears casualties
- Another resident hopes crisis can be resolved without loss of life
news reports as government troops moved in to evict thousands of anti-government protesters from a downtown district.
Prajya Aura-ek, 25, a manager in charge of sales and marketing at his family's boutique hotel -- which is located about three kilometers (1.8 miles) from the protest camp -- said he could see a growing cloud of black smoke, a helicopter circling the area and a plane from their roof. He said he could also smell burnt rubber from tires being set on fire.
"We are scared a bit that things might get out of hand and that all the protesters would come here instead," he said.
Aura-ek said he came to work because he didn't want to leave his aunt alone at the hotel. The hotel normally would have 85 percent to 90 percent occupancy at this time of year, he said, but now has no guests. He said they have closed their front gate and were monitoring the news.
"I grabbed all my clothes and all my stuff. I might even stay here tonight," he said. "Hopefully nothing bad is going to happen."
Military troops on Wednesday morning began entering a park in central Bangkok, where protesters have been camped out in defiance of a government order to vacate the area.
Video: Security in Bangkok 
Video: Long running protest in Bangkok 
Video: Gunfire heard in Bangkok 
Video: Thailand protest aftermath Armored personnel carriers were seen smashing into bamboo and tire barricades lining Lumpini Park, the site of the main demonstration area for the so-called Red Shirt protesters. Soldiers also were seen shooting sporadically as they entered the northwest edge of the park.
Timeline of Thailand's political crisis
The large show of force appeared to be the beginning of a large military operation to root out remaining protesters two days after a government-issued deadline expired with many Red Shirts still holding ground.
"I cannot see the operation coming to a successful end without further violence and without further losses. I was hoping to have a more optimistic message but I cannot," said Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra.
"The wounds will be very, very hard to heal. ... There is really no way of counting the physical cost of this conflict but I'm much, much more worried about the psychological wounds, which will have to heal after everything is over and done with."
What are the protests about?
Sirinun Siripanich, assistant secretary to the governor, has been going to the neighborhoods in the protest zones to deliver food and other necessities to the people who were trapped in their homes.
"Today we were planning to go into different zones ... but then all the plans were cancelled because it's supposed to be highly intensive fighting today," she said.
"We Thai people never experienced this kind of situation before," she said. "This is like a mini-civil war."
iReport: Video sparks discussion
Nanta Tangudtaisak, a 26-year-old business development manager who lives near an area where protesters had set up barricades, said she heard helicopters flying overhead and was following developments on the news.
"It's at a standstill so we feel like they (the government) have to do something," she said. "I am concerned it's going to get violent. Hopefully the government can try to limit the loss of life."
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