Thai protesters opened fire on government supporters today as the six-month campaign to unseat the elected administration intensified.
The fighting began when government supporters began throwing rocks at a truck carrying members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (Pad) on its return from Bangkok's old airport where the group had been holding a rally.
Television footage from the public broadcaster TPBS showed Pad protesters responding with handguns and slingshots.
The anti-government protesters had already formed a blockade on the road leading to Don Muang airport, north of the city, where ministers have been running the country since Pad members invaded Government House in August.
The protesters on the truck appeared to be among the so-called alliance guards, who have earned a reputation for aggressive behaviour.
They hoisted a portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Thailand's revered monarch, whose interests they claim to be working for.
The Narenthorn medical centre said four people were admitted after the clash.
Other television footage showed anti-government supporters surrounding a motorcycle taxi driver and putting a knife to his throat. After the driver fled, the protesters hit several motorbikes with steel rods and set fire to another one.
Government supporters, distinguished by their red shirts from the anti-government demonstrators' yellow, were seen fleeing from Pad members.
During the brief skirmish, neither police nor other security forces intervened.
The second day of protests saw demonstrators blocking all but one lane on the expressway to Thailand's main international airport, Suvarnabhumi, used by 13 million tourists every year.
The prime minister, Somchai Wongsawat, has rejected Pad demands to stand down.
Activists accuse him of being a puppet of his brother-in-law and former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was accused of corruption and abuse of power and deposed in a military coup in September 2006. Thaksin is due to return from an Asia-Pacific summit in Peru tomorrow.
"It is time to make a clear-cut choice between good and evil, between those who are loyal and traitors," Pad leader Somsak Kosaisuk told 10,000 yellow-shirted supporters waving hand clappers and shouting anti-government slogans.
Members of Pad, which consists of royalist businessmen and academics, see this week's action as the final battle in their attempt to overthrow the elected government.
But analysts believe the latest protests are unlikely to deliver a knock-out blow to the People Power Party (PPP) government. Opinion polls show waning public support for Pad.
Experts think many of the group's powerful backers in Bangkok are getting cold feet about the damage the long-running political crisis is having on the economy. The export-driven country is already struggling to cope with the global financial crisis.
Despite his ties to Thaksin, Somchai's bland, inoffensive personality has proved a hard target for Pad.
Police are eager to avoid a repeat of October 7 when two protesters were killed and hundreds injured in street battles, the worst violence in Bangkok since the army opened fire on pro-democracy demonstrators in 1992.
Bloodshed could trigger another coup only two years after the army removed Thaksin. However, it is unlikely another putsch could heal the fundamental political rift.
PHOTOS:
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