Thai security forces and
anti-government protesters remain in a stand-off in Bangkok after
clashes overnight in which one person died.
Protesters set
fire to vehicles as gunshots rang out and troops moved in to seal off
roads around the demonstrators' city centre encampment. A renegade general backing the protest remains in a critical condition a day after he was shot by an unknown gunman.
The demonstrators want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to step down.
On Friday, troops fired tear gas while advancing on dozens of protesters who had set up a checkpoint outside the Suan Lum night market to stop soldiers advancing on their main base.
'Disperse them'
Army spokesman Col Sunsern Kaewkumnerd was quoted by AFP news agency as saying: "They have intimidated authorities with weapons so security officials have asked the commander to disperse them."
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ANALYSIS
By Vaudine England, BBC News,
Bangkok
The clashes so far appear to
be just the opening salvos in the next phase of the prolonged struggle
for the centre of the city.
Government troops say they control major roads around the red-shirt protest camp. Red-shirt guards say they are forming units to defend their barricades. The red-shirts remain defiant - taunting the troops, saying if you want more dead bodies, come and get them. They also say they have power, water and food supplies to last. But this is also the most determined effort by a weakened government to end the protests since the deadly but failed effort back on 10 April in which 25 people died. |
Overnight, security forces shut down the electricity supply to the area around the large protest camp in the city centre.
The authorities have also begun to cut public transport and some mobile phone services to the area occupied by the protesters.
The government has threatened for days to cut off power, water and food supplies to the red-shirt camp, but the protesters have their own supplies and appear ready for a long siege, says our correspondent.
Early on Friday, protesters threw stones and bottles, prompting soldiers to fire warning shots in the air, reports said.
Commander Red shot
One protester was shot dead after a group of red shirts confronted armed security personnel on the outskirts of the barricaded encampment.
At least nine people were reported to have been injured.
The clashes followed the wounding of a renegade Thai general who had been organising the red-shirts' security.
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KHATTIYA SAWASDIPOL
Describes
himself as a key military adviser to the red-shirts
Suspended from duty in the Thai army where he has the
rank of major-general
Dubbed Seh Daeng (English: Commander Red), enjoys a
cult following among the opposition's radical wing
Aged 58, has likened himself to the Mel Gibson
character in the film Braveheart
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Seh Daeng is part of the protesters' more radical wing and had accused red-shirt leaders - many of whom have distanced themselves from him - of not being hard-line enough.
Circumstances surrounding the shooting, near the Silom business area, are not clear.
A spokesman for the red-shirt movement blamed an army sniper but military officials said troops had orders to fire only in self-defence.
The protesters - who have been occupying parts of Bangkok for more than two months - want Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call fresh elections.
Their camp stretches from the city's shopping district south to its business hub.
Mr Abhisit is under severe pressure to end the protests, which have paralysed Bangkok since 14 March.
He had offered polls on 14 November - but the two sides failed to agree a deal because of divisions over who should be held accountable for a deadly crackdown on protests last month.
The 10 April operation left 19 protesters, one journalist and five soldiers dead.