crisis political

Thailand's intractable political crisis broadly pits royalists, the military and the urban middle-class against the rural poor loyal to Thaksin.

Abhisit told Reuters that dissolving parliament in order to hold elections could lead to electoral violence, but he would listen to the grievances of some of the protesters.

On Monday black smoke had billowed over the city of 12 million people after protesters set fire to buses to block the troops. The side of one government building was ablaze.
Thaksin, ousted in 2006 coup and living in exile to avoid jail on a corruption conviction, also popped up on international TV networks from an undisclosed location, claiming that many people had died on Monday.

A government minister and medical officers said two people had died, both of them in skirmishes between residents and protesters, many of whom were bussed in from outside the capital.

The Emergency Medical Institute said on Tuesday that 113 people, including soldiers, had been injured in the clashes.

Thailand's top military commander, General Songkitti Chakabakr, said in a televised statement on Monday that the authorities would strive to bring the situation back to normal as soon as possible through peaceful means.

On Saturday protesters had forced the cancellation of a high-profile Asian summit in Thailand, a big embarrassment for Abhisit, who took office only in December.

The political strife in Thailand died down for a while after he came to office last December through parliamentary defections that Thaksin supporters say were engineered by the army.

They are demanding new elections, and protests flared up after Thaksin said Abhisit must resign by April 8 -- the day before the now abandoned East Asia Summit started.

I hope to achieve democracy in tailand