Anti-government unrest spreads in and out of Bangkok

BANGKOK - Anti-government unrest boiling over in the downtown spread to other areas of the capital and Thailand yesterday as the military defended its use of force in a crackdown that has left 30 civilians dead in four days. Thai leaders flatly rejected protesters' demands that the UN intercede to end the chaos.

Early Monday, news reports said a renegade army officer who worked for the Red Shirt protesters, Maj. Gen. Khattiya Sawasdiphol, had died, five days after he was shot by a sniper.

On Sunday, towering plumes of black smoke hung over city streets where protesters set fire to tires, fired homemade rockets and threw gasoline bombs at soldiers who used rubber bullets and live ammunition to pick off rioters. Army sharpshooters crouched behind sandbags, carefully keeping attackers at bay.

Red Shirt leaders said they wanted UN-mediated talks, provided the government agreed to an immediate cease-fire.

Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said a pause was unnecessary as the troops were "not using weapons to crack down on civilians." The government maintains it is targeting only armed "terrorists."

Authorities insisted they would continue the crackdown aimed at choking off the Red Shirts, who since early April have occupied a 1-square-mile protest zone in one of Bangkok's ritziest areas. The protesters are demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva resign, dissolve Parliament and call new elections.

Soldiers have encircled the core protest site and cut off utilities to the area. Protest leaders told women and children with them to move to a Buddhist temple compound within the zone.

Some of the worst clashes yesterday were behind the military cordon, an indication the unrest was not contained within the protest area and was spreading.

A military bus was burned in the northern city of Chiang Mai and protesters demonstrated in the northeastern towns of Nongkhai and Udon Thani to defy the state of emergency, which gives the army broad powers to restore order. It was extended yesterday to 22 provinces.

The government says 59 people have died and more than 1,600 have been wounded since the protests began in March. That includes 30 civilians killed and 232 injured since Thursday. About 5,000 people are believed camped in the protest area, down from an earlier 10,000.

The government announced a public holiday in Bangkok today and Tuesday.