Thailand blocked opposition websites and TV channels on Thursday and the prime minister scrapped an overseas visit a day after a state of emergency was declared to quell nearly a month of mass protests, according to Reuters. Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva called off a one-day trip to Vietnam for a Southeast Asian leaders summit as tension remained high, with "red shirt" protesters vowing defiance. On Wednesday, they stormed parliament, forcing officials to flee by helicopter and triggering an emergency decree that gives the military broad powers to control unrest. Despite the decree, the red-shirted supporters of twice-elected and now fugitive former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra ignored orders to leave the capital's main shopping district and promised to stage their biggest rally yet on Friday. The risk of a confrontation subdued Thailand's recently hot stock market, which posted its biggest fall in more than two months, losing more than 2 percent and underperforming its Asian peers. The local baht currency was also weaker. Frequent protests, violent riots, airport blockades and three changes in government in the past 19 months have hurt consumer spending, but the prospect of prolonged strife is already priced into Thailand's relatively cheap stocks. Foreigners have snapped up $1.82 billion of Thai stocks since Feb. 22. But, reflecting recent tensions, five-year credit default swaps widened 8 basis points on Thursday to as much as 109, the highest since March 4. "The political factor has affected consumers and business," Bank of Thailand Chief Economist Suchart Sakkankosone told reporters, adding unrest could influence the timing of an interest-rate rise that most economists expect in June. Overnight, two men on a motorbike fired into the offices of the nationalist monarchist "yellow shirts", wounding two security guards, witnesses said. A grenade fired at a radio station affiliated with the yellow shirts failed to explode. In 2008, the yellow shirts, who opposed Thaksin's allies in the previous government, occupied the prime minister's office for three months and blockaded Bangkok's main airport until a court expelled the government. The recent protests pushed consumer confidence last month to its lowest level since November, data released on Thursday by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce showed. "The political front will be a major issue of the Thai market today and we need to watch it closely," said Teerada Charnyingyong, an analyst at brokerage firm Phillip Securities. DIFFICULT CHOICE Abhisit faces a difficult choice: compromise and call an election he could easily lose, or launch a crackdown on tens of thousands of protesters that could stir up even more trouble. Most analysts doubt the authorities will use force to remove the mostly rural and working class protesters who have been camped in Bangkok's upmarket shopping district since Saturday -- a politically risky decision for Abhisit as his 16-month-old coalition government struggles to build support outside Bangkok. The number of protesters in the district of malls and luxury hotels was growing steadily, reaching about 10,000 by early afternoon. Numbers typically swell into the tens of thousands in the cooler evenings in a carnival-like atmosphere. But pressure is growing on Abhisit from residents in Bangkok, a stronghold of his Democrat Party, to take decisive action to end the rolling protests, which began on March 14 when up to 150,000 massed in the city's old quarter. "Abhisit has been accused of finding it difficult to make decisions and he seems to be struggling here somewhat. But it is a difficult position. There's human cost involved," said Danny Richards, senior Asia editor at the Economist Intelligence Unit. The emergency decree allows authorities to suspend certain civil liberties, ban public gatherings of more than five people and stop media reporting news that "causes panic". Abhisit assured the public on Wednesday that the emergency would not be used to impose a crackdown. Recently he has offered some concessions, including dissolving parliament in December, a year early, but protesters are demanding immediate elections. By Thursday, authorities had blocked most websites associated with the protesters and taken several opposition TV channels off air. Military checkpoints had gone up outside Bangkok to stop more from entering the sprawling city of 15 million people. Red shirt leaders remained defiant. "Today we will go on the offensive. We can't sit still and do nothing -- this is our right," Weng Tojirakarn told Reuters. Another leader, Nattawut Saikua, said they "would not give up". "We are not worried. This is not a state of emergency of the red shirts, it is for the government," he told reporters. "Regardless of how it is enforced, we will resist peacefully." The supporters of Thaksin see the urbane, British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit as a front man for an unelected elite and military intervening in politics with impunity. They say Abhisit lacks a popular mandate after coming to power in a 2008 parliamentary vote following a court ruling that dissolved a pro-Thaksin ruling party. If allies of the red shirts were to prevail in an election, it would probably spark a new round of protests by Thaksin's opponents. Many investors doubt even a violent impasse will derail a rebound in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy and one of the world's fastest-rebounding emerging markets. Thai stocks are up 80 percent over the past 12 months, Asia's third-best performer.
