PHUKET: The cars of at least five police were burning in the car park of Phuket's Thalang Police Station tonight as locals protested the deaths of two young men earlier in the day. Meanwhile, photographs showed reinforcements in battle dress arriving in central Phuket to intervene in a standoff in which protesters pinned police inside the police station. Scenes of this kind of confrontation are unprecedented since the military took control in Thailand last year.

The Phuketwan news service is closing from December 31.