• By
  • James Hookway

BANGKOK—An uproar has begun in media circles in Thailand over how gunmen who apparently emerged from the ranks of antigovernment protesters on Saturday to shoot at government supporters wore green armbands similar to those sported by accredited journalists.

A journalist (left) and antigovernment protesters take cover during a gunfight between supporters and opponents of Thailand’s government near Laksi district office in Bangkok on Feb. 1.

The Thai Journalists Association, or TJA, issues light green armbands to reporters so they may easily identify themselves at the various sites around Bangkok and elsewhere, where protests aimed at ousting the current government have been going on for months. In recent days, however, guards for the antigovernment protest movement have started wearing similarly-colored armbands, potentially causing confusion.

Video images and photographs showed reporters and demonstrators mingling during a stand-off between pro- and antigovernment activists on Saturday before the shooting began. From a distance, the journalists appeared almost indistinguishable from the demonstrators due to their green accessories. Following the clash, the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand, or FCCT, among others, called for demonstrators to stop wearing the bands.


“The FCCT condemns the use by non-journalists of light-green armbands and headbands that can easily be confused with those armbands given out by the TJA,” the FCCT said in a statement late on Saturday. It said the use of the armbands by non-journalists “makes it even more dangerous for journalists working legitimately in Thailand, in what is already a risky situation.”

Celebrated American photojournalist James Nachtwey was among several people injured in the clashes on Saturday. A bullet hit him in the leg, but he said he wasn’t badly injured. The 65-year-old award-winning war photographer returned to the streets of Bangkok to resume work on Sunday, as contentious elections began.

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