Red-shirts core leader Veera Musikhapong announced an end to the current anti-government protest in Bangkok on Tuesday morning as hundreds of soldiers surrounded the Government House camp where the remaining demonstrators had gathered.
The decision came a day after skirmishes in Bangkok, which left two dead and 113 injured.
"All of my brothers and sisters, please give up and board these buses provided by police," Mr Veera said to the crowd. "Police will take good care of you."
Mr Veera said the leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) agreed to end the rally because they were worried about the safety of the protesters.
"This does not mean that we loose," he told the protesters, some of whom appeared to be angry with the decision.
Weng Tojirakarn, another core leader, said the UDD would continue its opposition to the government through the international stage.
"We have stopped the protest but we haven't stopped the fight for democracy. We will continue the movement," said another core leader Nattawut Saikua.
About 2,000 protesters remained at the only rally site in Bangkok, according to army spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd.
The decision to disband was announced half an hour after Col Sansern said in a nationalised television broadcast that red-shirt protesters blocked traffic at 15 locations in Bangkok early on Tuesday, but soldiers and police were able to control the situation.
"The situation at all locations has eased," Col Sansern said, including Uruphong and Yommarat intersections and Victory Monument.
The protest was now confined to Government House where there about 2,000 protesters, he said.
He said there were two attacks on soldiers in Bangkok overnight. One soldier was seriously wounded.
Two men on a motorcycle opened fire at a military check point near Mahboonkrong shopping centre at 11.30pm on Monday, criticially wounding one soldier. He was being treated at an emergency unit at Police Hospital.
About 2.45am Tuesday a group of men in a pickup fired at soldiers at Thukchai intersection. There were no injuries.
Col Sansern attributed the attacks to "ill-intentioned people trying to create unrest in the country".
Source: Bangkok Post
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