Under emergency rules, authorities are empowered to detain any person without charge for up to 30 days.
The violence started before dawn Monday after Abhisit declared a state of emergency on Sunday afternoon in Bangkok and some districts of five provinces nearby, citing the escalating violence of red-shirted protesters.
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Thai soldiers crack down on the anti-government protestors along the road near the Victory Monument in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, April 13, 2009. [Thana Nuntavoranut/Xinhua]
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Soon after the declaration of the state of emergency, soldiers and armored carriers were deployed onto Bangkok streets.
At about 4:30 a.m. local time Monday morning, some 300 red-shirted protestors used a seized bus to crash soldiers stationed at Din Daeng District in north Bangkok. Soldiers fired warning shots into the air and used teargas to disperse the protestors.
Till early afternoon, the Thai security authorities have managed to disperse red- shirted protestors from many areas in Bangkok as traffic has resumed.
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Thai army soliders stand guard on a street near the Government House in Bangkok, capital of Thailand, on April 13, 2009. [Zhang Fengguo/Xinhua]
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Supreme Commander Songkitti Chakkrabat, who is a director of a newly-set-up emergency-tackling-command, said in a televised statement in the afternoon Thailand's peace and stability would be restored as quickly as possible in order to bring normal life back to the Thai people.
