The PAD has vowed to continue its protests [AFP]

Dressed in anti-riot gear but unarmed, soldiers were on Wednesday deployed outside government buildings including parliament, which was the focus of Tuesday's deadly clashes.

The streets around parliament were almost deserted, except for police deployed to sweep the area of debris and about 20 overturned cars left from the clashes.
 
Schools around parliament were closed, but in the rest of the city, people went to work and continued their daily routines seemingly unaffected by events a day earlier.

Government medical officials said 428 people were injured in the violence, which erupted after police tried to disperse thousands of protesters surrounding parliament to try to prevent Somchai Wongsawat from giving his first policy speech as prime minister.
 
The address went ahead but his speech was boycotted by the opposition Democracy party and protesters blockaded legislators inside, causing Somchai and five aides to climb a fence to escape the mob later.

One female protester was killed during the clashes after suffering internal injuries, a doctor from a Bangkok hospital said, and a man was also killed in a car bombing near the protest site.
 
Police said eight officers were shot or stabbed.
 
The army said police had called in the military to help quell protests but insisted there would be no fresh military takeover in Thailand, which has had 18 coups since the end of the absolute monarchy in 1932.

'Absolutely no coup'
 
General Anupong Paojinda, the army chief, told reporters on Tuesday that "absolutely the military will not stage a coup".

Bangkok's streets were almost deserted on Wednesday [EPA]

"It's not good for our country," he said.
 
Somchai, who has only been in the post for three weeks, has declared he will not resign or declare a state of emergency in the capital.
 
But his deputy, Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, resigned on Tuesday, saying he took responsibility for the violence.
 
"Since this action did not achieve what I planned, I want to show my responsibility for this operation," he wrote in his resignation letter.

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