• 
• 

The deaths occur after the protesters gathered outside the Tak Bai district police station in the southern border province early morning.

The protestors demand the release of six village defence volunteers who were arrested under suspicion of giving government-issued weapons to Islamic militants.

Troops fire tear gas at demonstrators after they throw stones and other objects into the police station.

Witnesses say they see troops firing at protesters while officers in charge of dispersing the crowd insist that shots are fired into the air, but not at any human targets. The bodies of all the men killed bear gunshots wounds.

A curfew banning people from leaving their homes between 10pm and 6am is declared shortly after the incident in eight of Narathiwat's 12 districts.

The fresh outburst of violence prompted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to make an emergency visit to the deep South.

The bloodshed results from a protest that has escalated outside Tak Bai district police station earlier in the day. The protesters travel from districts in Narathiwat and neighbouring provinces to demand the release of six village defence volunteers.

The protestors, most of whom were young adult males, start gathering in the Tak Bai district about 6am. Members of the swollen crowd then hurl rocks at the station, injuring at least three officers and overturning two military trucks and a police car.

The vanguard of the crowd later attempts to enter the police station only to be repelled by soldiers firing their guns into the air. Splinter groups also attempt to storm nearby buildings and district offices.

More than 1,000 police and soldiers are mobilised to bring the protest under control. They block the roads leading to Tak Bai police station as increasing numbers of Muslims arrive on motorcycles and cars from nearby areas.

Religious leader, relatives of the detained men and authorities represented by the Fourth Army Region Chief, the Ninth Police Region Chief Manote Kraiwong and Interior Ministry's deputy permanent secretary Siwa Saengmanee tried in vain to negotiate a stand down.

Although small parcels of protestors agree to stop the demonstration following a conciliatory gesture by the authorities to grant the six men bail, the majority of fired-up young Muslims refuse to be calmed by the gesture.

Fearing the incident would become unmanageable, security officials fire water cannon and tear gas at demonstrators. They manage to bring the situation under control within 30 minutes, after which they order protestors to remove their shirts and lie down on the ground.

A senior says that security forces and protestors have "exchanged gunfire" as the clash erupts further following the use of tear gas.

Some 1,000 protestors are arrested and detained for seven days under martial law for questioning by the Army.