THAI security forces fired live rounds and rubber bullets at protesters during a clash just outside Bangkok yesterday as the Red Shirts tested the government’s vow to contain their disruptive rallies.

Thai security forces fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government demonstrators today during a crackdown in the capital, Bangkok.

Harrods tycoon Mohammed al Fayed donated hundreds of thousands of pounds to an Islamic school where 11 pupils died in a bloody confrontation between machete-wielding militants and Thai security forces, its headmaster said today.