Should the world intervene in Thailand?
|10:06 UK time, Monday, 17 May 2010
Major General Khattiya a renegade Thai general who supported the red shirt protesters has died after he was shot in the head last week. Since then fighting between protesters and soldiers has intensified and dozens of people have been killed. The government has rejected a call for the UN to hold talks between the two sides, and has told protesters to leave their camp or face jail.
Although the government has declared parts of Bangkok a "live firing zone" protesters say they are willing to negotiate if the army stops trying close the protests down.
The red shirts - named after the colour they have adopted - support former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a coup in 2006. They believe the current government is illegitimate because it was voted in by parliament, when a pro-Thaksin government was forced to step down for committing electoral fraud.
A state of emergency has been declared, embassies have closed and governments are warning people not to travel to the country.
