Thailand protester's TV station shut down

Thailand's under-siege government closed a protest TV station today prompting activists to retaliate with a threat of escalating demonstrations.

The defiant "Red Shirts", attempting to drive Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva from office and call new elections, planned another mass rally tomorrow despite a state of emergency that allows the military to move against large gatherings.

Abhisit cancelled a trip to Hanoi today as he searched for ways to resolve the crisis without use of armed force.

The confrontation is part of a long-running battle between the mostly poor and rural supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was removed by a 2006 military coup, and those who oppose him.

Thaksin was accused of corruption and showing disrespect to the country's revered monarch.

A government spokesman said it shut down PTV, the satellite TV station of the Red Shirts.

"The government has succeeded in stopping certain media outlets from disseminating distorted and false information," he said.

Appearing on television, the spokesman broke into English to apologise to foreign tourists and expatriates for any inconvenience recent events have caused.

For the past week, several of the city's luxury shopping malls have been shut and upmarket hotels in the same district left under virtual siege.

A protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told followers that a media blackout "is just the first step for the government to clamp down on us tomorrow morning. If this is so, we're going to raise our protest to the maximum level".

Abhisit declared the emergency last night after protesters briefly broke into Parliament, following weeks of protests that have paralysed the government and cost businesses tens of millions of dollars.

Protesters camped in the city have ignored court orders and a massive security presence.

They have shown surprising tenacity as well as organisational skills, living under primitive conditions in scorching heat and moving around the city in well-ordered motorised columns.

Abhisit has been harshly criticised for failing to take strong measures to end the disruptive demonstrations. He has entered negotiations with the Red Shirts and ordered security forces to pull back from possible confrontations.

Although the military now has greater power to restore order, both Abhisit and the army know a crackdown could result in bloodshed that would be political poison.