Bangkok under control

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday that order has been restored in Bangkok and the provinces, after an army offensive shut down anti-government protests.

Reuters

In a nationally televised address, Abhisit said there was much work to be done to bring about reconciliation.

The army completed an operation to crush Red Shirt protesters who began looting and burning buildings in Bangkok after their leaders surrendered.

The stock exchange and the nation's biggest shopping mall were set on fire, along with some 34 other major buildings in the capital.

City workers are cleaning up the wreckage, clearing roads of burned tyres, and removing the remnants of the Red Shirts’ barricades.

The clashes left 83 dead and 1,800 injured since mid-March and there are reports the damage bill could be 40 billion baht (nearly 100 billion euros).

At Chiang Mai train station in northern Thailand a crowd of Red Shirt supporters gathered waving flags to welcome about 300 members of the movement dispersed from Bangkok.