Former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday issued a statement urging the government to immediately start negotiations with the red-shirt protest leaders to end the violence.
Thaksin's statement, sent to his former legal adviser Noppadol Pattama, said the government had violated human rights and law by ordering troops to crack down on protesters.
He demanded that Abhisit make four moves right way:
Stop deploying troops and police officers armed with lethal weapons to suppress the protesters;
Immediately lift the state of emergency in all provinces;
Immediately start negotiating with protest leaders to resolve the situation;
Hold talks with all groups in society to try and bring about reconciliation so the country can have genuine democracy and justice, which will help it move on.
Meanwhile, chief opposition whip Witthaya Buranasiri said Abhisit no longer had the legitimacy to cling to office.
"The government has abused its power in trying to dislodge the crowds from the Rajprasong rally site," he said, adding that the security forces had failed to follow the crowd-control procedures ordered by the Civil Court, resulting in a huge number of deaths and injuries.
While calling for all sectors of society to demand Abhisit's resignation, he said the main opposition party would consider ex-communicating the government as long as the PM refused to step down, he said. This would include the possibility of Pheu Thai MPs boycotting the House meeting next week, he said.
The House is scheduled to hold its last session on Wednesday before recess on Friday.
In addition, Pheu Thai MP Wichan Meenchainan called for the National Anti-Corruption Commission to launch a probe into the April 10 clashes, adding that the government was not justified in invoking emergency rule to crackdown on the red shirts.
In a separate development, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a statement calling for all sides to immediately stop using force and resume negotiations before the violence spirals out of control causing irreparable divisions.
The NHRC voiced concern over violence related to the Rajprasong rally. The loss of life and gross violations of human rights has continued unabated, including the incidents that happened on Thursday, it said in the statement.
"The NHRC would like to plead for all sides to put national interest above everything else in order to return to the negotiating table, and those refusing talks are the ones bent on harming the country," it said.
Meanwhile, Thaksin's posted a message on Twitter, saying: "It's bad as the government is using law on only one group of people while the other group can freely violate the laws. The point is if villains prosper in any country, it means the system doesn't work. Thailand is weak because we let good people yield to rogues. That results in thick-faced people prospering. People trust those who lie continuously. Some people even believe the rumours that I am already dead."
Thaksin's son Panthongtae tweeted: "The government's reconciliation is so violent that real bullets are fired without thinking of anybody. Photographers of Matichon [newspaper], my cameraman [Voice TV] and a foreign photographer were shot. It is speculated that the media is being attacked because they can record pictures of soldiers shooting."