From the forces of darkness, too, came the military cabal led by General Suchinda Kraprayoon, which had dozens if not hundreds of democracy protesters gunned down on the streets of Bangkok in May 1992.

CNN: ASIANOW - TIME Asia | Thailand: The King and Ire

Suchinda Kraprayoon tried to assume the premiership.

CNN: A Fresh Approach

His image perhaps reaches its zenith in 1992, after the army shoots dozens of pro-democracy protesters in Bangkok, when television shows both the army leader (and prime minister) Suchinda Kraprayoon and the protest leader, Chamlong Srimuang (now a PAD stalwart), kneeling in an audience with him.

ECONOMIST: Thailand's king and its crisis