Simon Montlake in CSM:

The violence began after troops repelled an attack by protesters on an Army base and began to advance on a rally site, firing rubber bullets and tear gas to dispel protesters. But the troops gained little territory and failed to retake the site.

The fighting then intensified after dark along narrow back streets, including an access road to Bangkok’s backpacker hub, where foreign tourists crouched in storefronts.

Mr. Panitan said shots were fired at retreating soldiers, who also came under attack from grenades and homemade explosives. He said they fought back with rubber bullets and fired live rounds into the air, not directly into the crowd. This claim seemed at odds with gunshot wounds sustained by protesters near their barricades. Among the dead was a Japanese cameraman for Reuters who was shot through the chest.

Western diplomats briefed by Thai security forces said that the botched crackdown showed that the rally could only be quelled by overwhelming force, given the presence of rogue gunmen. But such an operation would likely result in higher casualties and deepen the crisis. “They were completely unprepared yesterday,” says a Western diplomat.

Jotman also comments:

Prior to Saturday, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit must have been concerned about looking weak. Today, even from the perspective of his supporters, not only the prime minister but also the leadership of Thailand’s military forces appear incompetent — and no less weak. Did the army expect no resistance? What was the plan, the strategy? The fact that army allowed soldiers to fire live ammunition at protesters in close proximity to thousands of foreign tourists speaks to the staggering carelessness — indeed, the irresponsibility — of Thailand’s present military and civilian leadership.

BP: A reader, who is a longtime watcher of Thai politics, was also surprised that the military allowed this to get to Khaosan road, where bystanders can/were hurt. The reader stated that this didn’t happen in May 1992 where the miltiary blocking off exits from that stretch of Ratchadamnoen from the Royal hotel to Phanfa intersection and then arrested people while allowing some escape routes on some side streets. The military didn’t seem to have any sort of plan.

What is surprising is that the government has been complaining about the protests at Rajaprasong intersection saying they were causing damage to the economy and also what happened at Thaicom on Friday (where protesters clashed with the authorities to restore the satelite link for the reds’s TV station), but the response was to crack down on the protesters at Phan Fa. Now, in some ways this is not surprising as Phan Fa was probably seen as the easiest target given there were a smaller number of protesters there.

Not one for quoting Seh Daeng, but he referred to the military being leaderless at a point – will include the full quote of what he said given the controversy. Matichon reports him as saying the mistake of the Army C-in-C was to use snipers on the building at Satri Wittaya school and this caused many people to die (ความผิดของ ผบ.ทบ. คือใช้คนซุ่มยิงที่บนหลังคาตึกโรงเรียนสตรีวิทยา ซึ่งสาเหตุที่คนตายจำนวนมาก) because the result of using snipers to kill the people first (เพราะพลซุ่มยิงของทหารได้ยิงลงมาใส่ประชาชนก่อน) caused one group of persons whose identity is unknown or the Ronin fighters to respond (ทำให้กองกำลังไม่ทราบฝ่ายหรือนักรบโรนินยิงตอบโต้) by using a M79 grenade which then hit the military tent next to Satri Wittaya school which the military used as the command centre (ลูกระเบิดเอ็ม 79 ลูกแรกที่ยิงเข้าไปตกเต็นท์ทหารข้างโรงเรียนสตรีวิทยา ที่ใช้เป็นกองบัญชาการรบครั้งนี้) and this caused a serious injury to Maj General Valit the Commander of the forces (ทำให้โดน พล.ต.วลิต..ซึ่งเป็นแม่ทัพในการทำศึกครั้งนี้บาดเจ็บสาหัส) and many other senior military officials (และโดนนายทหารชั้นสัญญาบัตรหลายคนก็บาดเจ็บ) so there was no commander to issue orders (ทำให้การศึกครั้งนี้ไม่มีคนสั่ง).

BP: Most of the deaths on the red side seem to have come after this when there was no one in control.

h/t PPT