An elderly Thai man, who was hit in the head by a rubber bullet during an anti-government protest in Bangkok’s Din Daeng area on the night of August 15th last year, died in his Din Daeng apartment yesterday (Saturday).
According to the Centre of Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), 64-year old Mana Hongthong was hit by a rubber bullet, believed to have been fired by crowd control police, as he was walking back to his apartment on Maitri Road while protesters from the hard-core Talugas group were battling with the police.
TLHR said that Mana had nothing to do with the protest and was an innocent victim. He suffered serious head injuries and was rushed to a hospital. He was eventually discharged and had since been bedridden.
TLHR said Mana was the second fatal shooting by crowd control police during anti-establishment protests last year.
The other fatality was 15-year-old teenager Warith Somnoi, who was shot in the back, leaving the bullet embedded in his upper spine. Compounded by cerebral hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) after his heart had stopped beating briefly in front of the Din Daeng police station, the boy was in the intensive care unit of Rajavithi Hospital for three months prior to his death on October 28th last year, said the TLHR.
