Mark Giddens

Thailand's darkest day

I've had a couple of days now to reflect on what I witnessed in Bangkok on Saturday night, and the sights and sounds of Thais battling each other still saddens me.

For myself and the rest of the crew - cameraman Mark Giddens and producer Siwaporn Tee - the day started quietly, with no firm plans released to us by the leaders of the red shirted anti-government protestors.

But at lunchtime, all that changed very quickly.

Walking towards our van near the protest site in the commercial district of the city, red shirts chanting grabbed our attention.

They were telling us the police were coming to break up their month-long rally.

Tense standoff

We ran with them for two blocks to a main intersection leading into the area to find several hundred riot police spanning the road.

They had already been surrounded by red shirts and a tense standoff developed.