Bangkok -Demonstrators will disperse: leader

Red-shirts core leader Veera Musikhapong announced an end to the current anti-government protest in Bangkok on Tuesday morning as hundreds of soldiers surrounded the Government House camp where the remaining demonstrators had gathered.

Mr Veera said the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) agreed to end the rally because they were worried about the safety of the protesters.

"This does not mean that we loose," he told the protesters, some of whom appeared to be angry with the decision.

Weng Tojirakarn, another core leader, said the UDD would continue its opposition to the government through the international stage.

About 2,000 protesters remained at the only rally site in Bangkok, according to army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

The decision to disband was announced half an hour after Col Sansern said in a nationalised television broadcast that red-shirt protesters blocked traffic at 15 locations in Bangkok early on Tuesday, but soldiers and police were able to control the situation.

Soldiers chased red-shirt protesters away from Din Daeng intersection after they tried to block the road by setting a bus on fire in Bangkok early on Monday afternoon. The protesters regrouped at nearby Victory Monument.

A combination of water cannon from the street and expressway overhead, teargas and a rolling volley of warning shots fired high into the air as the troops moved forward sent the red mob fleeing from the intersection towards Victory Monument.

One soldier was injured during the clash.

The burning bus was quickly extinguished by a water cannon mounted on a fire engine as the troops moved in.

An LPG tanker highjacked earlier by the protesters and driven to the Din Daeng area was found parked nearby King Power headquarters.

When inspected, it was found the tank contained only vapour. The protesters had earlier parked it near an apartment building and intimidated troops by periodically opening the valve to let gas from the tank. This cause the hurried evacuation of residents from a block of the Din Daeng flats to the nearby Thai-Japan statdium..

A small group of flat residents angry at the protesters for intentionally releasing the inflammable gas also attacked them with wooden and metal staves.

Scattered groups of red-shirted protesters elsewhere in inner Bangkok continued to burn car tyres and block roads.

Health officials said 66 people were treated after the early Monday morning clash between red-shirt protesters and troops at Dindaeng intersection in Bangkok - four for gunshot wounds.