Red Shirts propose truce

A leader of Thailand's Red Shirt opposition called a top aide to the prime minister Monday to propose a truce after several days of clashes Bangkok. The government said it would accept a cease-fire offer if their fighters return to their camp in central Bangkok.

Reuters

Nattawut Saikuar telephoned Abhisit Vejjajiva’s secretary-general, Korbsak Sabhavasu, to offer to call protesters back to their main camp.

"He said that if soldiers stop firing, he will call protesters back to the Ratchaprasong site," Korbsak said. "If he calls protesters back to Ratchaprasong site and stops the action around Bangkok, there will be no more bullets fired by soldiers.”

Violence broke out throughout the city after protesters left the protest encampment, which has been encircled by the military to contain the rally. Earlier, a government ultimatum passed for the protesters to get out of the city centre by 3 p.m. Monday or face up to two years in prison.

There are fewer demonstrators within the main camp, but “there are many more people at the periphery coming out from different areas of Bangkok and confronting the military”, said correspondent Arnaud Dubus. “So the feeling is that there is a general widespread popular uprising taking place.”

The Red Shirts called for UN-mediated talks on Sunday, but the government rejected foreign involvement, saying it was an internal matter.

Two more people died overnight, including a member of the military. The official death toll since Thursday is 37, but Red Shirt representatives say it is much higher. Medical officials say more than 270 people have been wounded.

Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, known as Seh Daeng, or Commander Red, died on Monday after being shot in the head on Thursday night during an interview with a foreign reporter near to the Red Shirt encampment.