By Bill Tarrant
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's tense political standoff was nearing a climax on Thursday with anti-government protesters preparing for battle in central Bangkok against tens of thousands of armed troops.
The "red shirt" uprising showed the first signs of spreading beyond Bangkok to the protesters' stronghold in the northeast after they blocked a train carrying troops and military vehicles.
Tens of thousands of red-shirted supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra have fortified their redoubt in a Bangkok commercial district with home-made barricades, expecting the army to evict them any time.
Neither side shows any sign of backing down after the army's chaotic attempt to evict protesters from another site on April 10 that led to the deaths of 25 people and wounded more than 800.
The army again warned it would forcibly disperse them.
"Your days are numbered," army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Thursday. "If you leave now, you won't be prosecuted. But if you wait until the security forces enter, you will be prosecuted. You could also be hit by stray bullets during clashes between the security forces and heavily armed terrorists."
Red shirt leaders say another attempt to evict them would be futile. They say they will only leave Bangkok when Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva announces early elections.
Some 20,000 red shirts have occupied a roughly 3 square-km (1.9 mile) area of central Bangkok, setting up a self-contained village in an upscale shopping and hotel area.
"I am not afraid," said Saisunee, 23, a waitress in Bangkok who was part of the red shirts. "There are lots of people here. I don't think the army can dismiss us," she said when asked if the army's ultimatum frightened her.
CRACKDOWN MAY BACKFIRE
Any attempt to disperse the protesters risks heavy casualties and the prospect of clashes spilling into nearby high-end residential areas.
It may also lead the red shirts to step up action elsewhere in the country, particularly in their strongholds in the north and northeast where there has been little unrest so far in the six-week campaign.
"The risk for Abhisit is that even a successful dispersal, while assuring the near-term survival of his government, will not in any way ease -- and in fact may even worsen -- the disenchantment of the red-shirts," risk consultancy Eurasia Group said in a note. "In that case, their next rally, and the next round of volatility, will only be a matter of time."
Thai media reported a "multi-coloured" pro-government group planned a huge demonstration on Friday demanding a dispersal of the red shirts, splitting the capital into opposing groups.
About 200 red shirt protesters rallied in front of the regional headquarters of the United Nations in Bangkok on Thursday requesting peacekeepers be deployed to provide security. Police made no move to stop them.
Some red shirt leaders suggested on Wednesday they might consider a three-month timeframe for Abhisit to dissolve parliament and call elections.
But the movement is led by a 22-member committee that often sends mixed signals. They all agree, however, a crackdown is imminent and they are preparing for battle.
At one end of the sprawling encampment, leading to the Silom business district, the anti-government protesters atop their barricade faced off against several hundred "multi-coloured" demonstrators on Wednesday night throwing bottles and rocks before riot police got between them.
About 60,000 troops have been deployed in the capital and can use live ammunition if necessary for self-defence, the Bangkok Post newspaper quoted security officials as saying.
In the province of Khon Kaen, about 400 km from Bangkok, red shirts agreed on Thursday to let a military train proceed -- if it takes along 10 of them to make sure the train goes to its intended destination in southern Thailand and not bring reinforcements to Bangkok.
The crisis has decimated Thailand's important tourism industry and was the key reason the central bank left interest rates at a record low on Wednesday.
But Thailand's exports jumped 41 pct year-on-year in March, compared to 23 percent in February, indicating the protests have yet to punish the wider economy.
(Additional reporting by Orathai Sriring, Nopporn Wong-Anan, and Martin Petty; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
