Shots fired in Bangkok after day of violence

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai soldiers fired into the air on Thursday as they approached a temple in Bangkok where several hundred anti-government protesters sought shelter after troops dispersed them a day before and their leaders surrendered.

A Reuters reporter said there were at least six bodies at the site, which appeared to have been there some time.

Fires were still burning in central Bangkok after an overnight curfew that followed a day of riots and arson by the "red shirt" protesters in which health officials said at least seven other people were killed. Local television channels, under government orders, were showing only approved programmes.

The Erawan Emergency Medical Centre said 81 people were wounded in the fighting at the protesters' main camp in the commercial heart of the capital and in skirmishes around the city of 15 million. The mostly rural protesters had taken over parts of Bangkok over two months ago.

It was uncertain whether Wednesday's rioting represented a final outpouring of protesters' anger or whether it would intensify in days ahead, as there remains no political solution to the long running divisions in Thai society.

"We can immediately fix the roads but we do not know how long it will take to fix the wounded hearts and minds of the people," Bangkok Governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra told local television.

The red shirts want fresh elections, saying Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva lacks a proper mandate after coming to power in a controversial parliamentary vote in 2006 with tacit military support. Abhisit last week withdrew an offer of fresh elections.

Some political analysts said Thailand's future stability now rested squarely with Abhisit -- he must set a timetable for elections, release some moderate protest leaders and reach out to disaffected rural people in the country's north.

"He will have to take risks that threaten his interests and that of the key elite constituencies that support him. A much harder line over the next few months will satisfy his core base, but worsen the political outlook," said Roberto Herrera-Lim, Asia director of the Washington-based Eurasia Group.

RAN IN FRIGHT

A Reuters photographer said the protesters at the temple, including many women and children, ran in fright at the sound of the gunshots.

An Erawan official said she was aware of nine bodies reported to be in a temple inside the protest site, but rescue workers had so far been unable to get there.

The authorities said late on Wednesday that 27 buildings were set on fire by protesters, including Central World, Southeast Asia's second-biggest department store complex, which was gutted and looked close to collapse.

A spokesman for Bangkok's governor reported 31 fires burning around the city on Thursday morning, around half at banks but also at a mall in the protest camp area, where a blaze had been started around midnight, after the curfew started at 8 p.m. (2 p.m. British time).

A small fire was started in the stock exchange on Wednesday. The market will be closed on Thursday and Friday and the Bank of Thailand said banks around the country would also stay shut. The whole week has been declared a public holiday in an effort to keep people out of central Bangkok.

The curfew in the capital, in the grip of protests by "red shirt" activists for weeks, was lifted at 6 a.m.. Buses began running but it was unclear if the mass transit rail system would be reopened.

Television channels have been ordered to only air sanctioned programmes, broadcasting images of bulldozers pushed aside tyre and bamboo barricades as workers in trucks, under the protection of troops, cleaned up the protest camp site.

A single "red shirt" flag in the rubble flew limply in the morning breeze until it was crushed by a bulldozer.

Authorities imposed the curfew on 24 provinces -- about a third of the total -- after outbursts of unrest in seven regions, particularly in the north, a "red shirt" stronghold. Town halls were set alight in three northern areas.

The "red shirt" protesters are mostly drawn from the rural and urban poor and largely back former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist tycoon who was ousted in a 2006 coup and now lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a jail term for graft.

They started demonstrating in mid-March, demanding that the government step down and new elections be held. More than 70 people have been killed and nearly 2,000 wounded since then.

Thaksin said the crackdown could spawn guerrilla warfare.

"There is a theory saying a military crackdown can spread resentment and these resentful people will become guerrillas," he told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location.

Early this month, Abhisit offered an election in November, just over a year before he needed to call one, but talks foundered and that offer is now off the table.

"In many places, armed elements have prevented officials from helping the people," Abhisit said in a televised statement late on Wednesday, adding he was determined to end the unrest and "return the country to peace and order once again."

(Additional reporting by Ambika Ahuja and Nopporn Wong-Anan; Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)