Bangkok emergency measures remain after clashes

Thailand maintained a state of emergency across Bangkok to ensure security, a day after soldiers quelled anti-government protests that left two dead and plunged the kingdom into chaos.

The government said troops would remain on the streets despite arresting three protest leaders and issuing warrants for fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra and other leaders over the bloody street battles.

"The situation is under control. The government will keep watching the situation and monitor the movements of leaders who are not in detention," said Panitan Wattanayagorn.

"The prime minister wants to lift the state of emergency as soon as he can because he does not want to affect business."

Security checkpoints were in place around the capital, which was quiet as residents enjoyed a final day of Buddhist New Year celebrations ahead of an extra two days of public holiday announced in the wake of the riots.

Thailand issued an arrest warrant Tuesday for Thaksin for inciting thousands of demonstrators who staged a three-week rally at Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva's offices to demand he resign.

The protest escalated with the storming of a regional summit on the coast last weekend, forcing its closure, before a bloody showdown in Bangkok between demonstrators and troops.

The protesters dispersed from their main camp in Bangkok on Tuesday amid threats of further military action.

The English-language Bangkok Post condemned the protest leaders and Thaksin, saying they "must be held accountable for the heinous crimes they committed against the country and its people."

Another newspaper The Nation said the peaceful ending of the riots had strengthened Abhisit who would "be respected and considered a capable and mature leader who can lead Thailand into the future."

But editorials agreed on the urgent need for national reconciliation to unite Thai society, which is bitterly divided between Thaksin's largely poor supporters and the government backed by the army and the Bangkok elite.

The riots in Bangkok follow protests by rival anti-Thaksin demonstrators last year who besieged the capital's airports for nine days and are yet to be prosecuted.

A Thai court issued warrants Tuesday for Thaksin and 12 supporters, three of whom have been charged, for breaching the state of emergency put in place Sunday, threatening acts of violence and inciting others to break the law.

Thaksin was ousted in a coup in 2006 and is living in an unknown country to avoid a jail term for corruption, but he gave a string of video and telephone speeches to the rally calling for "revolution" over the past three weeks.

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.

Soldiers used tear gas and fired automatic weapons to disperse demonstrators who sent buses hurtling towards troops and torched a government ministry with petrol bombs on Monday.

Calm returned to the capital a day later after the army fenced protesters into their main protest site at Government House, threatening to advance until they decided to abandon the rally and go home.

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.





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