Thai protest leaders surrender

Military armored vehicles smashed through barricades erected by the anti-government protesters also known as the Red Shirts at their rally base on Wednesday. Then troops moved in, triggering clashes. At least five people, including an Italian journalist were killed. At least 50 others are wounded.

As the army surrounded the protest site, top protest leaders gave themselves up and urged their supporters to go home, insisting they cannot see any more deaths.

"I know that you are suffering. Some of us are speechless. But we want to stop any more deaths here," said Jatuporn Prompan, one of the key Red Shirt leaders, just before his surrender.

Key buildings on fire

In a televised address an army spokesman said the protest site was under army control and that the military had halted its operation. Yet some of the Red Shirts remained defiant. According to Reuters news agency three grenades exploded outside the main protest site, wounding two soldiers and a foreign journalist.

Rioting was seen in some other parts of the city. Fires broke out at the Central World shopping mall, the Thai stock exchange and some other locations in the capital. The causes of the fires were not clear. But media reports suggest that some hardcore Red Shirts had started them because they were not happy with their leaders' decision to surrender.

Violence has also spread to the northeast of the country. Some protesters stormed a town hall complex in the city of Udon Thani, setting a building ablaze, and torched a second town hall in Khon Kaen.

Curfew imposed

The authorities have confirmed that a curfew is being imposed across Bangkok on Wednesday night. A police spokesman also said that officers had been ordered to shoot on sight anybody looting, inciting arson or unrest.

Bangkok has been turned into a battle zone in recent days with the escalation of clashes between troops and protesters. Dozens of people were killed and several wounded in the last six days. The troops reportedly also used live ammunition against demonstrators, some of them armed.

Reconciliation failed

The government had given the Red Shirts a deadline to leave their protest site until Monday. But the Red Shirts refused to leave.

The Red Shirts consider the present government to be illegitimate, saying it came to power with the backing of the army and not by elections. They have been seeking early polls. As a compromise, Premier Abhisit Vejjajiva offered to hold polls in November.

The Red Shirts initially welcomed the proposal but raised a new demand, calling for Abhisit and his deputy prime minister, Suthep Thaugsuban, to be legally held accountable for a previous crackdown on the protesters on April 10, which left 25 people dead. This led to the collapse of the reconciliation plan.

du/AFP/Reuters/AP
Editor: Thomas Baerthlein