Third Day of Bloody Clashes in Thailand

Last Updated 4:22 p.m. ET

Thailand's prime minister defended Saturday the deadly army crackdown on the Red Shirt protesters besieging the capital, saying there was no turning back as clashes raged in the center of Bangkok.

"The government must move forward. We cannot retreat because we are doing things that will benefit the entire country," Abhisit Vejjajiva said in a national broadcast, striking a defiant tone that made it clear he was in no mood for a compromise.

The spiraling violence has raised concerns that Thailand - a longtime tourism magnet that promotes its easygoing culture as the "Land of Smiles" - was teetering toward instability. The political uncertainty has spooked foreign investors and damaged the vital tourism industry, which accounts for 6 percent of the economy, Southeast Asia's second largest.

The demonstrators Saturday accused government snipers of picking people off with head shots.

The army says it is not shooting to kill, but protesters crawled along sidewalks to slowly drag away bodies of three people near the city's Victory Monument traffic circle in the Ratchaprarop area Saturday. They accused army snipers of shooting all three in the head.

"The situation right now is getting closer to civil war every minute," a protest leader, Jatuporn Prompan, said. "We have to fight on. The leaders shouldn't even think about retreat when our brothers are ready to fight on."

The televised comments were Abhisit's first comments since the latest violence began Thursday after a Red Shirt protest leader was shot and seriously wounded by a sniper's bullet.

Since then explosions and street fighting have killed 24 people and wounded more than 194 as troops tried to seal off the 1-square-mile zone where some 10,000 Red Shirt protesters, mostly rural poor, have occupied one of the capital's most upscale areas since March 12.

Previous violence since the protest began in mid-March caused 29 deaths and injured 1,640.

About 10,000 have barricaded themselves in a protest zone in Rajprasong, Bangkok's premier shopping and diplomatic enclave.

They have set up a perimeter of tires and bamboo stakes, refusing to leave until Abhisit dissolves Parliament and calls new elections.

They claim his coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, and that it is indifferent to the poor.

Abhisit said the government was acting in the interests of the public and the plan is "to return normalcy with minimum loss" to Bangkok.

"We cannot deny that while these protests are taking place, terrorism also is taking place involving the use of war weapons," he said. "I insist that if we want to see an end to the loss of life, the only way is to have the protesters end their protest."

He said the government offered a reconciliation plan that was rejected by the Red Shirts.

The crisis had appeared to be reaching a resolution last week when Abhisit offered to hold elections in November, a year early. But hopes were dashed after Red Shirt leaders made more demands.

"We cannot let ... a group of people set up a militia to topple the government. This is the only way to achieve peace," Abhisit said.

Abhisit's comments came as fighting spread Saturday to several streets leading to the encampment, and the army set up barricades in an attempt to seal off the area, where all shops, hotels and businesses were closed.

Troops have used tear gas, rubber bullets and live rounds on demonstrators after they set fire to tires and a police bus on Friday. The government accuses them of using guns, grenades and firebombs.

The U.S. Embassy said it will evacuate family members of its staff who want to leave the volatile Thai capital.

In a message from New York, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appealed to both sides to "do all within their power to avoid further violence and loss of life."

On Saturday, soldiers unrolled razor wire across roads leading to the Ratchaprarop area - a commercial district north of the main protest site - and pinned Thai and English-language notices saying "Live Firing Zone" and "Restricted Area. No Entry."

Major roads around the protest site were blocked to traffic Saturday, and the city's subway and elevated train shut down.

Ratchaprarop houses high-rise buildings, posh hotels and designer shops. It was the scene of some of the worst fighting Friday night between troops and anti-government protesters.

"I am gravely concerned that a bloody suppression will only further entrench the culture of ... violence in Thailand," Tyrell Haberkorn, a political scientist with The Australian National University, said by e-mail.

She said the protests stem from the outrage the marginalized majority feel at the lack of say they have in governance, which is largely in the hands of the elites.

"If one listens to the protesters ... people are willing to risk their lives because they believe that they are making a more just Thai society for themselves, their children and their grandchildren," she said.

Another protest leader, Weng Tojirakarn, demanded the government declare a cease-fire and pull back its troops because "we don't want to see a civil war. If it does happen, I don't know how many years it will take to end."

The Red Shirts especially despise the military, which had forced Thaksin Shinawatra, the populist premier favored by the Red Shirts, from office in a 2006 coup. Two subsequent pro-Thaksin governments were disbanded by court rulings before Abhisit became prime minister.

In several rounds of violence, a total 51 people have been killed and at least 1,620 wounded, according to a government toll that includes the most recent clashes.