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Tensions spiked in the commercial center of the Thai capital as a volatile standoff continued Thursday between anti-government protesters and large numbers of combat-gear-clad troops on the streets.
The protesters, known as the "Red Shirts," used tires and sharpened bamboo canes as barricades and taunted soldiers.

The Red Shirts are supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006. They are demanding that Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolve the government, hold new elections and leave the country.

For weeks, they have occupied blocks of the city, spurring a political crisis in Thailand. Last week, Abhisit declared a state of emergency in Bangkok.

Fed up with the unrest gripping their city, some residents emerged on the streets as the "Multicolored Shirts," hurling rocks and verbal abuse at the Red Shirts.

Leaders of the group urged businesses and residents to boycott the Red Shirts, not sell them goods or allow them to use toilet facilities in the area of the demonstrations, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported.

The Multicolored Shirts group was formed mainly by middle-class Bangkok residents, academics, the business community and members of the social network Facebook. They marched across Bangkok -- some of the women wearing high heels -- to show support for Abhisit.

Holger Bauer, a 56-year-old German man who is in Bangkok, told that about 300 protesters carrying Thai flags yelled: "Reds go home" and "long live Abhisit."

Earlier in the week, the Thai military had stationed about 1,500 troops along a financial hub on Silom Road in anticipation of renewed clashes with protesters.

At least 25 people have been killed and more than 850 others injured in the political battle that has unfolded on Bangkok's streets. The explosive situation has given rise to fears of a deepening crisis and perhaps even civil war.