A gunman dressed as a Buddhist monk opened fire in Thailand's parliament building Wednesday, taking about 30 people hostage and demanding to speak with the prime minister.
The man dressed in a traditional safron robe entered the front office of Bangkok's Parliament House building at around 8:30 am and fired once. No one was hurt.
Speaking through a megaphone, the man identified himself as Sayan Chitasuro of Phongnamron district of Chan Buri province bordering Cambodia.
"I am demanding to talk with Prime Minister Thaksin to lodge a complaint about my unjust treatment when I was arrested by the local police," he said.
"I am demanding to talk with Prime Minister Thaksin (Shinawatra) to lodge a complaint about my unjust treatment when I was arrested by the local police," the man, who identified himself as Sayan Chitasuro, said through a megaphone.
The man said he was from Phongnamron district of Chan Buri province bordering Cambodia.
The chaos came minutes before the 500-member elected lower house was set to debate a no-confidence motion against 15 individual cabinet members.
In a lengthy speech though a mobile phone to reporters that was broadcast live, the gunman said he was arrested in 1996 for trespassing in a national park.
He said he had come to parliament to hand a petition to the president of the parliament and to see the prime minister.
(China Daily May 22, 2002)
