The city was thrown into confusion on Sunday when the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation said it would impose a curfew in some areas of Bangkok, only to then retract the statement a few hours later when army chief Anupong Paojinda reportedly opposed the decision.The army commander remained confident the army could handle the situation without a curfew which could cause more trouble for people in the capital.But the centre did not rule out a curfew in the future if the situation worsened.
The centre's decisions to defer the reopening of schools and the declaration of today and tomorrow as holidays for government offices were unavoidable due to the fighting in the capital and elsewhere in the country, the centre said.
Also on Sunday, the clashes spread to Chiang Mai and Ubon Ratchathani, which are support bases of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship.
As the chaos entered a third day yesterday, the death and injury toll continued to rise.
Thirty-four have now been killed, according to figures released Monday morning. More than 221 have been injured.
In addition to putting pressure on the UDD at its Ratchaprasong rally site, the centre has banned the financial transactions of 106 firms and people including soldiers seen as close to the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School class of deposed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The government hopes to weaken the red shirt demonstration by cutting off its financial supply.
The pressure is aimed at forcing the UDD leaders to end their protest.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva insisted yesterday that dispersal of the demonstrators was the only way to save people's lives.
Red shirt leaders, however, asked if they could enter negotiations with the government to prevent further deaths on condition that the United Nations brokered an end to what they called civil war.
The government dismissed the demand and said the crackdown would continue.
The deadlock worried 160 grass-roots and activist groups which said they did not want to see the country plunge into disaster. They urged an end to the fighting and said negotiations should be given another chance to defuse the tension.
bangkokpost
