Blood on the streets sucks army into Thai crisis

BANGKOK (Reuters) - The pool of congealed blood on the doorstep of the forestry department and the spent bullet casings on the pavement a few yards away said it all -- the struggle for control of Thailand had turned nasty.

The clash early Tuesday morning between pro- and anti-government protesters only lasted a few minutes but left Rajdamnoen Avenue, a stately eight-lane thoroughfare cutting through Bangkok's old town, strewn with rocks, broken glass and sticks.

Blood spattered the pavement outside the regional headquarters of the United Nations, where a line of 400 riot police and the same number of soldiers -- armed only with shields and batons -- kept the two warring sides 100 metres apart.

One man was killed and at least 34 injured, two with gunshot wounds, before police managed to separate the red-shirted and pro-government Democratic Alliance against Dictatorship (DAAD) from the yellow-shirted People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

Pumped-up protesters on each side accused the other of opening fire.

Although a welcome relief for the beleaguered police, the deployment of troops, albeit unarmed, raises the spectre of the military seizing control less than two years after the 2006 coup against then-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The violence and subsequent declaration of emergency rule, which gives the army control of internal security, also rekindled memories of 1992, when the soldiers fired on massive pro-democracy crowds, killing dozens.

Despite its name, the PAD, which has been occupying the Government House compound for the last week to try to oust elected Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, wants a new constitution that will ensure that 70 percent of MPs are appointed.

Wearing yellow in honour of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, they accuse Samak of being an illegitimate proxy for Thaksin and harbouring republican ideas -- a charge vigorously denied.

"We are here to follow democracy, because those people want a government that is only 30 percent elected. What democracy is that?" DAAD supporter Kusol said. He did not give his last name.

"Thaksin is the best politician we've ever seen. He can make the economy grow and make sure everybody has a job," he said.

STANDOFF

Behind him, a truck mounted with speakers pulled up to hurl vitriol at the PAD, whose rock concert-like protest stage, complete with its own massive sound system, has blocked the avenue for the last three months.

"We are on stand-by," said helmeted PAD sentry Boonchualy Chansungnern, a mobile phone repairman from Samut Prakan, a province just east of Bangkok. "If they come here, we can use force."

At one point, a lone PAD supporter found himself on the wrong side of police lines. He was kicked, punched and beaten with sticks before being bundled, blood pouring from his head, into a waiting ambulance.

When they arrived on the scene, senior police officers calmly peered down the view-finders of reporters' television cameras to observe the raw footage of the clashes.

With the main avenue sealed off by security forces, gangs of men armed with sling shots and molotov cocktails played cat-and-mouse for several hours in the narrow alleyways leading behind the government buildings.

(Editing by Darren Schuettler and John Chalmers)