Nattawut Saikua, a leader of the anti-government protesters, had earlier called for the United Nations to mediate in the standoff. He also wanted the security forces to withdraw from around the protesters' city center encampment.

But government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn told journalists that there was no need for a U.N. or any other mediator to help end the situation.

"The government is ready to go forward with negotiation when the situation is defused, when the protest ends, violence ends and attacks on authorities end," he said.

More than 35 people have died since last week in clashes with police and military.

The security forces have been firing live rounds near the massed crowds, many of them women and children, to keep them from attacking.

Tensions increased after the news that a wounded renegade army general who had sided with the Red Shirt anti-government protesters had died in hospital.

Gen. Khattiya Sawasdipol, also known as Seh Daeng, or Commander Red, was shot in the head during an interview with journalists at the protesters encampment last week. It is still not clear who fired the shot but many protesters are blaming the military.

Protesters held a minute's silence and then their regular series of daily speeches and music from a central stage began again. The leaders remain defiant that they want the government to resign and call new elections.

The shooting of Khattiya was the incident that sparked the current round of clashes the two sides.

Estimates vary from between 3,000 and 5,000 of protesters who remain behind the barricades that have closed off the Ratchaprasong area of central Bangkok rally site.

Police spokesman Maj. Gen. Prawut Thawornsiri said an estimated 5,000 people were seen dancing and singing inside their fortified base.

He said military helicopters dropped leaflets on the encampment, urging the protesters to leave the rally site immediately.

Fighting broke out over the weekend in streets next to an area of first-class hotels including the Dusit Thani where guests were ordered into the basement for their safety from gunfire and explosions outside.

Cars and tires were set on fire and security forces were seen firing into the crowds as protesters hurled bricks and Molotov cocktails at police behind the protection of sandbags

Among the wounded were a Canadian journalist working for a French agency and two local Thai reporters.

The tense political and street-level standoff between the government and the Red Shirts and their main political group the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship has been going on since Mar. 12. Earlier clashes left 27 dead and hundreds injured.

The Red Shirts and many within the UDD support the self-exiled and former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who won record election victories in 2001 and 2005. He is often credited with improving the financial situation of the northern poor, many of whom were bused into Bangkok for the current protests.

But the military ousted Thaksin in 2006 over corruption allegations.

In February the Supreme Court ruled that half of Thaksin's $2.3 billion family fortune should be seized by the government because of conflict of interest.

Earlier this month talks between the UDD and the government appeared to end in an agreement under Prime Minster Abhisit Vejjajiva's so-called road map that would see a national election in November.

But the UDD has been demanding that the Abhisit set a date for dissolving parliament before they end their protest and dismantle the street barricades.

The government's term in office isn't officially over until the end of 2011.

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