Bangkok:
Thailand's government said on Sunday a crackdown on Red Shirt protesters would continue despite the protesters' plea for United Nations-mediated talks.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said there was no reason for the army to withdraw since "the authorities' operations involved neither threats nor weapons against people."
The government maintained it was only targeting armed "terrorists" among the Red Shirts.
Panitan said groups that used weapons and threatened security forces must "stop their actions immediately."
Earlier on Sunday, the Red Shirt leadership said it would negotiate with the Thai government, on condition the army ended its crackdown.
A towering column of black smoke rose over Bangkok on Sunday as demonstrators facing off with troops set fire to tyres serving as a barricade.
Soldiers have encircled the protest zone in a wide perimeter.
Most of the fighting is taking place in the no-man's land in between.
The Red Shirt fighters have used homemade petrol bombs, firecrackers, rocks - and in some cases guns - to attack troops positioned behind sandbag bunkers.
The soldiers have responded with rubber bullets and live ammunition.
Journalists have seen army snipers taking aim through telescopic sights and firing to keep the attackers at bay.
According to government figures, 59 people have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded since the Red Shirts began their protests in March.
The toll includes 30 killed - all civilians - and 232 injured since Thursday, in fighting that has turned parts of the city into an urban battle zone.
On Sunday, protest leaders told women and children with them to move to a Buddhist temple compound within the protest zone.
In Thai tradition, temples are considered safe havens and will not be entered by anyone bearing arms.
Somchai and Jintana Sawaaitrakul, holding the hands of their two daughters, aged eight and six, carried their bags into the Pathumvanaram Temple.
Somchai, a Red Shirt protester from Buriram Province, left his job to join the demonstrations.
The family decided to move to the temple after two months protesting with the Red Shirts.
"We have come here for the safety of the children; I'll go back out later," Somchai said.
In the Din Daeng district, about two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the protest zone, residents were seen leaving their homes with all the belongings they could carry.
The Red Shirts have occupied a one-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometre) protest zone - barricaded by tyres and bamboo spikes - in one of Bangkok's most upmarket areas since mid-March, to push their demands for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign immediately, dissolve Parliament and call new elections.
Drawn mostly from the rural and urban poor, the Red Shirts say Abhisit's coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and with the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolised a national elite indifferent to the poor.
With the Red Shirts' encampment virtually sealed off by troops, the protesters are running out of food and water and other supplies.
Government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said there was no reason for the army to withdraw since "the authorities' operations involved neither threats nor weapons against people."
The government maintained it was only targeting armed "terrorists" among the Red Shirts.
Panitan said groups that used weapons and threatened security forces must "stop their actions immediately."
Earlier on Sunday, the Red Shirt leadership said it would negotiate with the Thai government, on condition the army ended its crackdown.
A towering column of black smoke rose over Bangkok on Sunday as demonstrators facing off with troops set fire to tyres serving as a barricade.
Soldiers have encircled the protest zone in a wide perimeter.
Most of the fighting is taking place in the no-man's land in between.
The Red Shirt fighters have used homemade petrol bombs, firecrackers, rocks - and in some cases guns - to attack troops positioned behind sandbag bunkers.
The soldiers have responded with rubber bullets and live ammunition.
Journalists have seen army snipers taking aim through telescopic sights and firing to keep the attackers at bay.
According to government figures, 59 people have been killed and more than 1,600 wounded since the Red Shirts began their protests in March.
The toll includes 30 killed - all civilians - and 232 injured since Thursday, in fighting that has turned parts of the city into an urban battle zone.
On Sunday, protest leaders told women and children with them to move to a Buddhist temple compound within the protest zone.
In Thai tradition, temples are considered safe havens and will not be entered by anyone bearing arms.
Somchai and Jintana Sawaaitrakul, holding the hands of their two daughters, aged eight and six, carried their bags into the Pathumvanaram Temple.
Somchai, a Red Shirt protester from Buriram Province, left his job to join the demonstrations.
The family decided to move to the temple after two months protesting with the Red Shirts.
"We have come here for the safety of the children; I'll go back out later," Somchai said.
In the Din Daeng district, about two kilometres (1.25 miles) from the protest zone, residents were seen leaving their homes with all the belongings they could carry.
The Red Shirts have occupied a one-square-mile (2.6-square-kilometre) protest zone - barricaded by tyres and bamboo spikes - in one of Bangkok's most upmarket areas since mid-March, to push their demands for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to resign immediately, dissolve Parliament and call new elections.
Drawn mostly from the rural and urban poor, the Red Shirts say Abhisit's coalition government came to power through manipulation of the courts and with the backing of the powerful military, and that it symbolised a national elite indifferent to the poor.
With the Red Shirts' encampment virtually sealed off by troops, the protesters are running out of food and water and other supplies.
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