Red Shirts offer truce as deadline to leave expires

THOUSANDS of protesters in the Thai capital defied a deadline to leave their fortified camp yesterday as their leaders offered a truce after five days of street clashes that have left 37 people dead.

The escalating violence has turned parts of the city into no-go zones as troops use live ammunition against protesters, who have blocked streets with burning tyres and fought back, mainly with homemade weapons.

Protest leader Nattawut Saikuar telephoned a top aide to the prime minister to offer to call Reds back to the main protest camp from outlying areas, where fierce street battles have occurred, said the aide Korbsak Sabhavasu. “He said if soldiers stop firing, he will call protesters back to the Ratchaprasong site,” Korbsak Sabhavasu said.