Asia-Pacific
Thai police pull back after confronting protesters
(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-04-23 11:10
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The protesters, supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, have also been occupying an upmarket shopping area for three weeks.
Any attempt to disperse them risks heavy casualties and the prospect of clashes spilling into high-end residential areas.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said on Thursday night there would be no crackdown because women and children were in the area.
Adding to the volatile mix, a new "multi-coloured" group is planning a demonstration of 50,000 people in Bangkok's old quarter on Friday to demand the "red shirts" end their rally.
Demonstrations by this group have increased the tension in the Silom business district this week.
"There are now two conflicting groups and this kind of confrontation could create havoc and turmoil," said Somjai Phagaphasvivat, politics and economics professor at Thammasat University.
Under growing pressure to restore order, the army warned the red shirts on Thursday their "days are numbered".
Leaders of the red-shirted supporters of twice-elected and now fugitive Thaksin say they will only leave when the military-backed government announces an early election.
They say the British-born, Oxford-educated Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva came to power illegitimately in late 2008, heading a coalition the military cobbled together after courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin party that led the previous government.
