Govt weighs earlier dissolution
PM under pressure to make concessions
The government could offer to dissolve the house in six months, three months sooner than its most recent proposal, as it seeks to head off further red shirt protests, sources say.
The worst clashes on Thai streets in 18 years on Saturday have raised new questions about whether Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva can survive in the job.
As troops and red shirt protesters were fighting on city streets on Saturday night, key government policy makers were meeting to devise a way out for the Democrat Party-led coalition.
The fighting claimed 21 lives and left 858 people injured. The government ordered troops to withdraw late on Saturday night.
An uneasy truce prevailed yesterday, although the red shirts say they will fight on to persuade the government to dissolve the House and call a new election.
Some government figures believe an announcement on a timetable for dissolving the House would help break the impasse.
Sources in the Democrat Party and its coalition partners said yesterday the idea was discussed among their key members on Saturday night.
