Assassination attempt in Thailand?

last updated 8 January 2015

Thailand's capital Bangkok is in chaos after Seh Daeng, the leader of passionate anti-government protests, was shot in the head during an interview with a New York Times reporter. Daeng, a Thai general who broke ranks to join the "Red Shirts" protest in January, represented more than 10,000 "Red Shirt" protestors who have barricaded themselves in a Bangkok shopping mall for two months, calling for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's government to resign. The London Times calls Daeng, who models himself after Mel Gibson's Braveheart, "one of the most colorful but mysterious figures in the ongoing Thai crisis, a living example of the contradictions which make it so difficult to resolve or understand." Daeng's shooting, which was not fatal, could have two outcomes, says Julia Bodeeb at Associated Content. It will either "cause more upheaval, or it could cause the Red Shirt movement to become more unfocused." Watch an ITN report on the shooting: