[Dominick Yo]

A plain-clothes policeman detains an opposition activist demanding for freedom of speech during a rally in central Baku, Azerbaijan. -- PHOTO: REUTERS




An anti-government 'red shirt' demonstrator sits on top of an abandoned armoured vehicle behind a picture depicting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva at the site of fierce street battles with Thai security forces in central Bangkok. Saturday's clashes, which killed 21 people and wounded hundreds, were not only Thailand's worst riots in 18 years, but may also have taken the country closer to the worst-case scenario in its five-year-old crisis: a fissure in the military along social and political fault lines dividing the country. -- PHOTO: REUTERS




An anti-government 'red shirt' protester sleeps in front of a closed down shopping centre in the main shopping district in Bangkok. Thailand's opposition called off a march on an army base on Wednesday as the government vowed to hunt down 'terrorists' it blames for the Southeast Asian country's worst violence in 18 years. -- PHOTO: REUTERS