In Thailand, clashes between troops and protesters have intensified in the past three days. Demonstrators were ready to negotiate with the government if the talks were mediated by the United Nations and if the army agreed to a ceasefire, but the Thai government rejected their call for U.N. mediation.
On Sunday, the Thai government rejected calls by anti-government protesters for U.N.-supervised talks to end three days of deadly clashes between demonstrators and the army.
[Panitan Wattanyaorn, Thai Government Spokesman]: (male, Thai)
"We reject their demands for U.N. mediation or for them to do to any activities in Thailand. No Thailand government has ever let anyone intervene with our internal affairs. We can solve our problems ourselves but we are willing to listen."
Earlier, a Thai protest leader said the demonstrators were ready to negotiate with the government if the talks were mediated by the United Nations and if the army agreed to a ceasefire.
The comments came minutes after the Thai government moved back from imposing a curfew in Bangkok as fighting raged in two areas of the city of 15 million people.
The government's immediate response was that no conditions should be attached to negotiations.
The curfew was considered after troops fired live rounds to disperse protesters armed with petrol bombs, rocks, homemade rockets, grenades and guns.
[...]
One protester was shot in the head by a sniper. By afternoon, as clashes intensified, a grenade was tossed at troops, who responded with gunfire that scattered the demonstrators into nearby alleys.
Many protest leaders now face terrorism charges that carry a maximum penalty of death.
The two-month crisis that has paralyzed parts of Bangkok, stifled Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy and decimated tourism.
