BANGKOK — Thai troops fired bullets and tear gas at anti-government protesters rioting near the U.S. and Japanese embassies Friday as an army push to clear the streets sparked deadly clashes and turned central Bangkok into a virtual war zone.

Violence escalated after a rogue army general regarded as a military advisor to the Red Shirt protesters was shot in the head on Thursday evening, possibly by a sniper, leaving him in critical condition. Ensuing street clashes have killed two people and wounded at least 13 others, including a Thai photographer and a foreign journalist.

With security deteriorating and hopes of a peaceful resolution to the two-month standoff fading, unrest plunged Thailand deeper into political uncertainty, threatening the country’s stability, economy and already-decimated tourism industry.

Friday’s violence was initially centered on a small area home to several foreign embassies, but by midafternoon had spread to other areas around the protest zone.

Soldiers crouched behind a raised road divider in one area and fired rubber bullets, live ammunition and tear gas shells. Army vehicles were seen speeding on deserted streets littered with stones and debris. Protesters retreated and hurled rocks and insults.

Fighting has now killed 31 people and injured hundreds since the Red Shirts, mostly rural poor, began camping in the capital on March 12, in a bid to force out Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva. They claim his coalition government came to power illegitimately through manipulation of the courts and the backing of the powerful military, which in 2006 forced the populist premier favored by the Red Shirts, Thaksin Shinawatra, from office in a coup.

The latest death came Friday, when a 33-year-old man died of a gunshot wound linked to the protests, said Dr. Suwinai Busarakamwong at Kluay Namthai Hospital.

Last week, Abhisit offered November elections, raising hopes that a compromise could be reached with the Red Shirts, who have been demanding immediate elections. Those hopes were dashed after Red Shirt leaders made more demands.

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The plant makes the Fortuner SUV and the Hilux Vigo pickup truck. Production and workers will be shifted to other plants in Thailand, of which Toyota has three.

Earlier in the week, Toyota had released plans to readjust worldwide production. Basically, the plan follows the market, both in terms of cars and foreign exchange.

“One of our fundamental principles is to produce vehicles where there is demand,” says a corporate communiqué. Toyota will consolidate production in Japan, and increase output in China and India. NA and EU are considered as important markets, but the production structure in NA is being “examined” and product trends in Europe are being “monitored.”

Japanese assembly “of the Corolla and other mass-market cars destined for export is expected to be gradually phased out in favor of local production in individual markets,” says The Nikkei [sub].

In booming China, Toyota restarted previously shelved plans to build a new factory for the joint venture with FAW in Changchun. Production will start in the first half of 2012. In emerging India, a compact-car factory will begin operation within a few months.

Source: Toyota Cuts Production In Bangkok, Adjusts Worldwide Output | The ...

The clampdown coincided with fresh violence which left renegade Major-General Khattiya Sawasdipol, a high-profile Reds supporter, shot in the head.

Describing a chaotic scene on the streets of Bangkok, Thomas Fuller of The New York Times described to CNN how Maj. Gen. Sawasdipol was shot in the head as he was interviewing the opposition figure.

"I was facing him, he was answering my questions, looking at me and the bullet hit him in the forehead, from what I could tell," Fuller told CNN.

"It looks like the bullet came over my head and struck him. I don't have any way of confirming this beyond what I remember from the scene but it felt like it grazed my head."

The general had been accused of trying to stymie government moves to reconcile with the protesters.

He was unconscious in the intensive care unit of a local hospital, the Bangkok Emergency Medical Service said.

Protester killed

Another demonstrator was also shot in the head and died in clashes with security forces Thursday night. Eleven others were wounded, the Medical Service said.

Red Shirts vowed no surrender despite the shooting of the fiery general, known as Seh Daeng.

"If you think the shooting of Seh Daeng will scare leaders and make them not dare to take the stage, you are wrong," one of the protest leaders, Jatuporn Prompan, said at the rally site.

"No matter what the weapons are, it means nothing to people who are calling for democracy like us. We will not leave here as losers."

On Friday the protesters were digging in.

Electricity cut, rail system shut

"The total seal-off measure took place since yesterday evening," said the army spokesman, Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd, adding that the electricity company had cut off the power to part of the capital.

"Today we will meet to assess the measure," he said.

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The protesters want Abhisit to resign and call new elections, and a compromise looked likely last week, with Abhisit offering to hold elections a year early, in November. The Red Shirts agreed in principle but presented a list of other conditions Monday, and talks have unraveled since then. Abhisit has said he'll rescind his election offer if the protesters don't leave Bangkok soon. During their two-month standoff with Thai troops, the Red Shirts have waged daring protests and stunts to bring Bangkok's economy to a halt and grab international attention. At one point they gathered an army of volunteer nurses and held a blood drive, then splashed their supporters' blood at the gates of government offices. At another, leaders staged a cinematic escape from a hotel, rappelling down an outer wall and jumping into a getaway car, after they were surrounded by government commandos. Tens of thousands of Thai troops are deployed across the capital, but they have largely yielded city blocks to the mostly peaceful protesters, enabling them to build a huge encampment in downtown Bangkok. Fortified with sharpened bamboo rods like spears, the camp occupies a huge swath of the city, nearly the size of New York's Central Park. The Red Shirts have sought to portray their movement as a struggle by Thailand's impoverished, rural masses -- who benefited from Thaksin's policies of cheap health care and low-interest village loans -- against an urban Bangkok elite impervious to their plight. But Thaksin was himself a millionaire convicted of corruption and abuse of power, and his six years in power were marked with nepotism and erosion of democratic institutions.

Valued AOL News readers, we have heard your requests for a commenting area that supports lively discourse -- including a wide range of opinion across the political spectrum -- but does not tolerate vulgarity and hate-mongering. Although it is taking some time, AOL is working hard to reconfigure the system so that it is a top-notch...

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It was another bloody day in violence-stricken Thailand Thursday night, as a dissident general was shot in the head.

Clashes between antigovernment protesters, who have taken red shirts as their symbol, and pro-government forces, clad in yellow, have been ongoing for months. On Thursday explosions and gunfire were heard around the capital, Bangkok, and Gen. Khattiya Sawatdiphol, known as Seh Daeng, was shot while being interviewed by a reporter with the International Herald Tribune. The Associated Press reported that the injury was "severe." The general had served as head of security for the rebels.

Despite deploying troops, the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva—which demonstrators argue came to power illegitimately with the help of courts and the military—has been unable to quell protests. They suffered a humiliating defeat in April when a "red shirt" leader escaped from a hotel by climbing out the window as government commandos raided it.

Read more about unrest in Thailand in this NEWSWEEK story from the May 10 edition.

Source: Wave of Violence Sweeps Bangkok: Dissident General Is Shot ...