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BANGKOK: Security forces patrolled Bangkok streets on Wednesday in an effort to maintain calm a day after deadly clashes, as Thai protest leaders vowed to seek revenge for those killed or hurt in the violence.
Small groups of soldiers and police stood guard near state buildings including parliament - the focus of Tuesday's clash between police and anti-government protesters which left two people dead and hundreds injured.
Soldiers were largely monitoring empty avenues in the historic district, with few signs remaining of the unrest, when police fired tear gas at thousands of protesters and angry mobs retaliated with gunfire and fighting.
Leaders of the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) said they would continue their rallies until the elected administration steps down.
"We will fight with our wits to reach our goal, to get justice for the people who were injured and died," PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul said at the prime minister's offices, which demonstrators have occupied since late August.
The health ministry said that 455 people were injured on Tuesday, including eight who had to have damaged limbs amputated. Twenty police were among the injured, some suffering gunshot wounds, while 84 people remained in hospital.
A man identified by police on Wednesday as PAD organiser and retired policeman Metha Chartmontri was killed in a car bomb near parliament, while one woman died of internal injuries she sustained during the clashes.
Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat defended the use of force as he toured a hospital to visit injured police.
"The protesters wanted to seize parliament, so police used tear gas, which is an international practice," he told reporters.
"Police are also wounded, and this clearly shows that the protests are not peaceful and protesters are not unarmed as claimed," he said.
Somchai had earlier met foreign diplomats to try and reassure them about stability here.
In the latest incident, a group of PAD protestors armed with clubs and baseball bats hijacked a bus on Wednesday and ordered everyone off before driving it to their camp, police said.
The bus was used to blockade the front of the Government House building which the protesters have besieged since August 26.
The PAD claims that the current government is running the country on behalf of ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and objects to its plans to amend the constitution, which was brought in after the September 2006 coup.
Somchai is Thaksin's brother-in-law, and Thailand's old power elite in the palace, military and bureaucracy - a mainstay of support for the PAD movement - resent the return of Thaksin's allies.
The PAD began their campaign in May and late Monday thousands of their supporters marched to parliament where Somchai was due to give his first policy address to the house on Tuesday, prompting the clashes.
Despite their harsh words on Wednesday, protesters said they were not planning on taking any immediate action.
Most of the PAD's supporters are currently holed up at the Government House protest camp, after retreating there late Tuesday.
"We plan to stay at Government House," Pibhop Dhongchai, a PAD leader, told reporters when asked what their plans were for the coming week.
Tuesday's unrest followed months of protests by the PAD, whose rallies in early 2006 contributed to the unrest culminating in the coup that ousted Thaksin.
The army has sought to reassure people that despite the presence of troops in the streets, no fresh military takeover is in the works in Thailand, which has suffered 18 coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.
"Absolutely the military will not stage a coup," army chief General Anupong Paojinda told reporters on Tuesday. "It's not good for our country."
Somchai, who has only been in the post for three weeks, has declared he will not resign or declare a state of emergency in the capital - although one of his deputies, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, has already resigned.
The streets around parliament were almost deserted on Wednesday, except for police deployed to sweep the area of debris and about 20 overturned cars left from the clashes.
The People Power Party in December won the first elections since the coup, but have been beset by protests and court decisions against them, one of which removed Somchai's predecessor Samak Sundaravej from office last month. - AFP/de
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