Bangkok Post finally reports on the most controversial incident during the Red Shirt protests of May 2010.
The fatal shooting of six people at Wat Pathumwanaram during the dispersal of the red shirt rally last week looks set to dominate the agenda of next week's censure debate.
The charged issue is expected to be raised by the opposition in the censure debate on Monday and Tuesday.
The opposition says the government's decision to resort to the use of force to break up the red shirt protest at Ratchaprasong intersection was responsible for the six deaths, including that of a Red Cross volunteer nurse.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban told reporters yesterday to wait until the censure debate for him to explain all the facts.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said during yesterday's budget bill debate in parliament that the government would describe the military's operations in handling the anti-government protest in detail.
Autopsy results on the six bodies by the Institute of Forensic Medicine at the Police General Hospital would unravel the facts and that should answer the question of who killed them, he said.
The opposition Puea Thai Party said one red shirt protester, who himself was shot in the leg, had seen soldiers fire at a nurse working in the temple.
Mr Abhisit said the witness most probably had made a mistake in thinking he had seen a soldier shooting at people.
The premier said the protesters had been fed one-sided information and the soldiers had been vilified for weeks.
Many protesters were visibly afraid the soldiers might harm them and were reluctant at first to get aboard the vehicles provided by the government to take them home, Mr Abhisit said.
The protesters had the impression they would be taken to be killed by the soldiers, he said.
Mr Suthep also dismissed media reports that the government coalition partners were pressing for a cabinet reshuffle, saying no party had proposed a reshuffle so far.
Mr Abhisit said he had not talked to Korbsak Sabhavasu, his secretary-general, after he reportedly posted a message on Twitter about the possibility of there being a cabinet reshuffle.
The prime minister said he would wait until after the censure debate to discuss a reshuffle.
Deputy Interior Minister Boonjong Wongtrairat, who is also a deputy leader of the Bhumjaithai Party, dismissed the speculation about a cabinet shake-up.
Another heart breaking first person account in the Bangkok Post:
Slain nurse's mum heard gunshots minutes before her death
Kamonked Akkhahad only wanted to help others before she was fatally shot
Published: 28/05/2010 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News
The heartbroken mother of slain nurse Kamonked Akkhahad spoke to her daughter on the phone just minutes before she was fatally shot.
Payao Akkhahad, 45, said she heard gunshots in the distance during the conversation sometime between 6pm and 7pm of May19.
Then, in a devastating phone call at 9pm, Ms Payao was told Kamonked had been shot to death.
Now she is looking for answers - and receiving none.
"She was a nice, kind-hearted girl who had always wanted to help others," Ms Payao said of her daughter, a 25-year-old Red Cross volunteer nurse.
Kamonked was killed at Wat Pathumwanaram during the military dispersal of red shirt protesters. Ms Payao said she urged her daughter to take cover and retreat to safety.
"But then around 9pm I was told by her friends she was dead," she said. The slain nurse's funeral was held on Wednesday at Wat Pak Bueng, a temple in the heart of a low-income community on Rom Klao Road in Bangkok's outer district of Lat Krabang.
It was a low-key ceremony attended by about 200 people made up of her family members, friends and supporters of the red shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) including some executives of the Puea Thai Party.
Kamonked, the eldest child from a low-income family, was among six people killed at the temple which had been designated a safe haven for protesters. The temple is next to the UDD rally site at Bangkok's Ratchaprasong intersection.
Until the fatal incident, she had been the sole breadwinner of the family which is now struggling to survive financially and emotionally.
But what is more important for them now is the search for truth over the killing of Kamonked. The family has demanded a clear explanation from the government.
Similar to the cases of the other 87 people, including five others at the temple, killed in the clashes between protesters and government forces from March12 to May20, details over who is responsible for the killings have not been established in a concrete manner acceptable to all sides, especially the red shirts.
Of the total death toll, 77 were civilians and 11 were security officers.
The Democrat Party-led government has mostly pointed the finger at "the work of terrorists" who it says mingled among the protesters. The military has displayed weapons belonging to "terrorists" which it says it found at the temple. But this has failed to convince the relatives of the dead and the injured.
"I want the government to search for the truth - I mean the real truth behind the killing," said Natthapach Akkhahad, 21, Kamonked's brother who has adopted the role as the family's breadwinner.
"If the state says the death is the work of terrorists, then tell us who those terrorists are. Name them for us."
Details and debate over the killing of the nurse were openly shared among people attending the funeral. Like other cases, many believe she was shot by security forces.
Pictures taken on the day show there were gunmen in military uniform positioned above the temple on the skytrain's tracks. The government has denied soldiers were there at the time of the incident.
"She [Kamonked] told me on the phone she was in front of the temple trying to help a man who was shot," Ms Payao recalled of the phone conversation.
"I told her to go back inside the temple, but she insisted the man needed help."
Witnesses say the nurse was killed about 7pm while helping this man. Two of her colleagues were also shot dead.
Krongthong Phuengsang, 66, said she had worked with Kamonked since April12, providing medical assistance to protesters."On May 19, our supervisors told us to leave the rally site before dawn but Kamonked decided to stay," she said. "What I remember is she wore a Red Cross gown that day."
Like others attending the funeral, the nurse's family finds it hard to accept the government's claim of terrorism elements as the cause of the death.
"My daughter should be the last person to be killed as she was wearing her Red Cross gown and doing her job," Ms Payao said.
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