Thailand's anti-government protesters gathered in Bangkok today carrying coffins in memory of their comrades killed in clashes at the weekend in the country's most violent political protests in almost 20 years.
The demonstrations, in which 21 people were killed, ended after security forces pulled back late at night. The Red Shirt movement insisted that it would never compromise with Abhisit Vejjajiva, the Prime Minister.
At least 870 people were injured in confrontations on Saturday when soldiers in armoured vehicles tried to break up a gathering of tens of thousands of Red Shirts, who are demanding immediate parliamentary elections It was suggested today that Mr Abhisit could propose early elections to defuse the month-old crisis, despite the Red Shirts' insistence that the time for talks is over.
The Bangkok Post said that the Prime Minister could dissolve Parliament in six months — three months sooner than his most recent proposal. Some government figures saw this as the best way to break the impasse, it said.
He has to call an election by the end of 2011.
"They believe an announcement by the Prime Minister on a timeline for him to dissolve Parliament — regardless of how the Red Shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship reacts — might be the best way for him to hang on to his job," the newspaper reported.
It added that Mr Abhisit would not announce this until after the Songkran holiday — the Thai new year — which runs from tomorrow until Thursday.
A government spokesman said on Sunday that a line of communication with the Red Shirts was open but conditions were not right for formal talks. The Government announced a state of emergency on April 7, forbidding public gatherings of more than five people.
"As long as they are still breaking the law, that makes it difficult," the spokesman said.
However, thousands of protesters remained in a defiant mood after the Army failed to move them from one of two Bangkok bases where they have camped out for a month.
"We don't negotiate with murderers," Weng Tojirakarn, a Red Shirt leader, said on Sunday. "We have to keep fighting."
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