Red Showdown in Bangkok

 

After a day of chaos and violence, Bangkok is currently in a tense stand off.

Thousands of Red Shirt protesters are in control of a large geographic area around Government House.

They have armed themselves and have erected a number of roadblocks around the city.

In response to this challenge, the government has declared a state of emergency and it is reported that 56 companies of soldiers are preparing to confront them.

It is hard to imagine this scenario playing itself out without bloodshed.

The photos here were taken this Sunday evening (April 12th) between 9 and 11 PM around the Government House neighborhood.

© Chandler Vandergrift
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Chandler Vandergrift is a photographer and writer living in Bangkok, Thailand.  His photography has appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers across North America.  He has also spent years in Southeast Asia working as a NGO researcher on various political and social issues in the region.  He is currently beginning work co-authoring a book complied by Thai journalists about the conflict in Southern Thailand.  Read his blog The Nation’s State at <nationsstate.blogspot.com>.