Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rejected on Saturday a new, compromise offer by anti-government "red shirt" demonstrators to end weeks of increasingly violent protests in return for early polls, Reuters reported. The red-shirted supporters of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra said on Friday they would end a three-week occupation of Bangkok's ritzy shopping district if the government dissolved parliament and announced elections in 30 days, softening a previous demand for an immediate dissolution. Asked by reporters if he had accepted the proposal, Abhisit replied "No, I don't". "They keep saying they will escalate the situation. That's why the government cannot consider the proposal." -- SPA
