Thai Army Advances on Bangkok Protest Site

Anti-government red-shirt protesters have exchanged fire with army units trying to break up their camp in the centre of the Thai capital, Bangkok.

Troops have fired shots and tear gas grenades, as thick black smoke billowed over the protest site. Five protesters are reported injured. At least, 37 people have been killed in clashes since last week. The government insists talks are only possible if the protesters first leave the streets, reports BBC News.

"We are still ready to talk. My line is open but protest has to end first," said government advisor Korbsak Sabhavasau.

The military made loudspeaker announcements on Wednesday morning urging to ‘leave the site immediately,” explaing that officials are about to conduct an operation.

On Tuesday, red-shirt leaders had accepted the offer of fresh talks to be overseen by senior Senate figures, but they floundered on the government insistance that the red-shirts must leave the camp prior to talks.

The two sides have been trading increasingly bitter accusations in recent days. The government accuses hard-liners within the red camp of using women and children as shields. At a news conference on Tuesday the military showed footage of what it said was a protester holding a baby over a barricade.

The red-shirts, meanwhile, accuse government troops of firing indiscriminately on them, although the army said troops were firing live rounds only in self-defence. Late on Monday, the United Nations called on the protesters to "step back from the brink" and urged the government troops to exercise restraint.

But several thousand protesters remained inside the barricaded camp in the centre of Bangkok in continued defiance of government demands to leave. Schools and government offices remained closed, and underground and elevated train services were suspended.

The government has extended the public holiday until Friday to allow more time to resolve the crisis – which has seen gunfire and explosions at a number of sites around the protest camp.

The red-shirts have been protesting in Bangkok since 14 March. They are currently occupying the shopping district, forcing hotels and shops to close and affecting the city's economy. The protesters are a loose coalition of left-wing activists, democracy campaigners and mainly rural supporters of ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who has lived overseas since he was convicted of conflict of interest.

They are demanding fresh polls because they say the government - which came to power through a parliamentary deal rather than an election - is illegitimate.