Around 1.15 pm, red-shirt leader Jatuporn Promphan appeared on the rally stage making an passionate plea for the red shirts to end protesting at Rajprasong to avoid further loss of life.
"Please understand and I know you all knew I will never abandon you but it is now time to avoid more lives lost because it's our red shirts who got killed," he said.
Jatuporn vowed never to abandon the red shirts nor their political ideology but argued that he would sacrifice himself in order to save lives of the red shirts.
Red-shirt leader Natthawut Saikua said as their leader, the red shirts must now end their rally.
"I can no longer tolerate the cruelty inflicted on us, the red shirts," he said.
Natthawut said the red shirts should conserve their energy and determination in order to fight another day.
He said the red-shirt leaders would sacrifice their freedom in exchange for the safety of their fellow reds.
"Please heed my call for an end to the rally so that we can continue fighting to advance democracy for the future," he said.
He called for the reds to start dispersing and leaving the rally site via routes leading to the National Stadium, where the government had busses waiting to take them home.
Thousands of red shirts appeared emotional and unwilling to disperse.