WORLD> Asia-Pacific
Thailand seeks Thaksin's arrest over protests
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-15 09:42

The premier said a state of emergency imposed on Sunday in Bangkok and surrounding areas would remain in place while isolated "incidents" of protest were dealt with and promised to prosecute all protest leaders.

But analysts warned that the violence had merely widened the rift between largely poor supporters of Thaksin and the government backed by the army and the Bangkok elite.

"We have stopped the protest but we haven't stopped the fight for democracy. We will continue the movement," said Nattawut Saikuar, one of the leaders who was charged.

Thailand has been through weeks of chaos as Thaksin supporters, in their trademark red shirts, took to the streets to demand the resignation of Abhisit, whom they say is in office because Thaksin allies were illegally pushed out.

The government declared two extra public holidays on Thursday and Friday to extend the three-day Thai New Year festival this week "in order to ensure public security and clean up places affected by the protests."

But the Thai stock market and banks announced they would open on Thursday and Friday.

Shopping malls closed down by the violence quickly reopened, a boost for the struggling economy and the vital tourism industry after television images of the chaos in Bangkok flashed around the world.

In Monday's violence troops used tear gas and fired automatic weapons to clear demonstrators who sent buses hurtling towards lines of soldiers and torched a government ministry with petrol bombs.

As night fell the army corralled about 2,500 remaining protesters behind barricades in an area around Abhisit's offices at Government House.

Troops then moved towards the site as dawn broke on Tuesday, while armoured personnel carriers and other vehicles blocked off all access points and the military used loudspeakers to warn protesters to go home.

Army spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said troops had also suppressed protests in three provinces on Monday, during which demonstrators took control of a television station and a railway terminal.

Several countries have advised tourists not to travel to Thailand or to exercise caution if already there, while the US State Department condemned the "unacceptable violence" by the protesters.

Bangkok emergency services said Tuesday that the toll from clashes between security forces, demonstrators and local residents stood at two dead and 123 wounded, 44 of whom were still in hospital.

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