AFP

Pro-government protestors clash with riot police in Bangkok as Thailand’s political crisis deepens Tuesday.

BANGKOK - Thailand's prime minister declared a state of emergency in the capital Tuesday after thousands of his opponents and supporters clashed in the worst street violence here in more than a decade.

One person was killed and 44 were injured, some of them from gunshot wounds, as a week of mass protests calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej spilled over into bloodshed overnight.

Samak called on the protesters to leave the main government complex, which they have occupied for the past week.

"They must be moved from the Government House," Samak told a nationally televised news conference. "I had no other choice but to declare a state of emergency in Bangkok in order to solve the problem for once and for all."

The emergency decree essentially gives control of the capital to Thailand's powerful army chief, General Anupong Paojinda, just eight months after Samak's civilian government was elected to end more than a year of military rule.

Anupong now has the power to break up any gathering of more than five people, but he insisted that he would try to negotiate with the protesters rather than resorting to violence.

"There can still be a peaceful solution through negotiations," Anupong told reporters.

"I can ensure to every person in the press that police and the Thai military will not use violence to any civilian by any means," Anupong said in English.

But protesters from a group calling itself the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which is pushing for the elected premier to stand down, were gearing up for a fight.

Activists rolled barbed wire across streets in central Bangkok, while donning motorcycle helmets and patrolling key areas with golf clubs and wooden sticks.

"So far there is no contact from the military ... but PAD does not intend to hold talks with anybody," said Somsak Kosaisuk, a PAD leader.

"Samak and his government must quit," he told reporters inside the heavily barricaded government complex.

Thai police called in army reinforcements early Tuesday to rein in the clashes, setting nerves on edge in a country that has seen 18 military coups since the end of absolute monarchy in 1932. AFP