Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has declared a state of emergency in Bangkok, giving the army broad powers to gain control of spiraling street protests. Abhisit announced the move on television after protesters broke into Parliament. Some MPs scaled the compound walls to escape.


PHUKET protesters were among red shirts who invaded Parliament in Bangkok today, forcing the Prime Minister and MPs to flee and heightening the political faceoff to an intense level.

Sunthorn Toema, the Phuket protest leader who sold his car to help fund the protest, said about 50 of 500 Phuket protesters who joined the red rallies on March 12 remain in the capital.

''We went to the Parliament because of concern about bombs,'' Khun Sunthorn said. ''We wanted to tell Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban to stop the violence.''

As the red shirts invades parliament, the sitting was suspended. Some MPS were evacuated by helicopter and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was hustled into a waiting vehicle.

Whether the Government will continue to treat the protesters with kid gloves now that Parliament - the core of democracy - has been invaded is the big question.

Every day of the protest, now in its fourth week, brings an escalation of tension and a continuing test of the patience of Bangkok residents and police and the army.