"We must break this chain of violence and build together a peaceful atmosphere."This is the appeal launched Mgr. Francis Xavier Kirengsak Kovithavanij, archbishop of Bangkok, through AsiaNews, while the government's ultimatum to demonstrators "to leave the occupied area of the capital by 3pm” expired.
Yesterday in churches throughout Thailand prayers were said for the end of the war, adds the archbishop, a war that in only five days has provoked 36 deaths and 250 injuries.
Mgr. Kovithavanij recalls the "road map" for peace and reconciliation, the five points proposed by the government, stressing that "all the Thai public was in favour of this way out".
However, the prelate adds, "some of the 'red shirts' did not want it and will not cooperate with the government, favouring a hard line”.
He believes that "the government will certainly continue" its a firm and intransigent stance, "even if the opponents do not want to stop the demonstrations."
The Archbishop of Bangkok, says that the escalating violence of recent days "comes from a fringe of 'red shirts' close to General Khattiya Sawasdipol "who died this morning in hospital.
"There is a part of the protesters - clarifies the prelate - who want the violence and have no interest in negotiating with the government."
The "red" general had been appointed by Thaksin Shinawatra, former prime minister in exile, to "go ahead with street protests," promoting a military wing of the anti-government group able to confront the army.
The wounding of the General, which occurred on the evening of May 13, triggered the next wave of violence.
The army has ordered the protesters to leave the area occupied in the commercial district of the capital. At 3pm local time the ultimatum expired and the military are preparing "the showdown".
Through megaphones, TV appeals and text messages on mobile phones, the government warned the demonstrators that they "must leave the area."
An appeal backed by the archbishop of Bangkok, which asks people to "go home, because the protest has gone too far."
Police sources report that at present there are still 5 thousand red shirts barricaded in the business district of Bangkok.
"Even the Catholic hospital of St. Louis - adds the prelate – are dedicated to the care of the wounded. As Christians we held a committee for peace, to seek dialogue with other faiths, but it is not possible at present to launch reconciliation initiatives. It is better that people stay at home, so as not to increase the confusion. "
"We still have a hope - Mgr. Francis Xavier Kirengsak Kovithavanij adds - to break the chain of violence and rebuild an atmosphere of peace. "
AsiaNews sources in the capital explain that behind the political crisis there are "profound social imbalances" that have caused "enormous economic differences between the masses of poor and financial elite concentrated in the capital."
"The royal family and the military - adds the source - support the current government, which has taken few concrete steps to improve the situation of agricultural areas”.
A political and social crisis, he concludes, has revealed "the weakness of the king and the monarchy, whose silence reveals the implicit support of the executive, but has helped to deepen the rift in society".
As shown in a report issued by the Bangkok Post, now the "red shirts" have no option but to use the protestors as "human shields”, knowing that it is in the government’s interest to" prevent bloodshed".
But the time of negotiations, the paper stresses, is finished and "nobody in the executive is interested " in the new conditions posed by the leaders of the "red" opposition party United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship (UDD) to resolve the crisis.
SIC: AN