The Thai government yesterday declared a state of emergency in Bangkok to restore order after a person was killed and 43 injured in overnight clashes between opponents and supporters of the government.

The military has now been empowered to restore order, and the authorities can suspend certain civil liberties, ban public gatherings¹ of more than five people and bar the media from reporting news that could "cause panic".

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said it was the "softest means available" to restore order.

"I did it to solve the problems of the country," Samak said in a televised news conference. "I had no other choice. The softest means available was an emergency decree to end the situation using the law."

But he did not give a timeframe for the decree, only saying it would be over "moderately quickly".

Samak's government was confronted with another threat yesterday afternoon when the Election Commission recommended that his People's Power Party be disbanded for electoral fraud committed during December elections.

The commission forwarded its findings to the Attorney General's Office, which will decide whether to submit the case to the Constitutional Court for a final ruling - a process that could take months.

Samak and other top party leaders could be banned from politics for five years if the ruling is upheld.

Responding to the developments in Thailand, China said it sincerely hoped political stability would return to the country.

"As a friendly neighbor (China has) closely followed the developments there and sincerely hopes that Thailand returns to political stability," Foreign Ministry² spokeswoman Jiang Yu said in Beijing.

The overnight violence in Bangkok deepened a crisis that started a week ago when thousands of People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters occupied the prime ministers' office compound and refused to move until he resigned.