Thailand warns people to stay away from protests

BANGKOK, May 11 (agencies): Thailand's caretaker government said Sunday that it would tighten security to prevent clashes that could arise between the two sides in an escalating political crisis, and warned people to stay away from protest sites for their own safety.

The announcement was broadcast on television as pro-government and anti-government protesters held competing rallies in Bangkok over the weekend. The two groups were several kilometers (miles) apart, but concerns of violence have risen following a court's ouster of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra last week.

Senior security official Tharit Pengdit warned that if the anti-government movement carries out an attempt to appoint an unelected prime minister, it would ignite anger from government supporters that "could definitely spread to clashes and could eventually lead to a civil war." The comment echoed one made a day earlier by the head of the pro-government Red Shirt movement.

 Two people were injured late Saturday when unknown assailants fired two grenades at Government House, the prime minister's office compound, where anti-government protesters were camped, said police Col. Kamthorn Auicharoen. Officials vacated the compound months ago due to the protests launched against Yingluck in November.

 It was the latest in a series of grenade attacks and drive-by shootings that have left hundreds of people injured since Thailand's political crisis escalated in November. Both sides accuse the other of orchestrating the violence.

Meanwhile: Thailand's authorities warned Sunday that opposition efforts to hand power to an unelected regime risked unleashing new violence, as rival protesters prepared for a showdown over the fate of the crippled government.

Opposition demonstrators have delivered an ultimatum for a new leader to be appointed by Monday or they will step up efforts to topple a government clinging to power after premier Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted by the courts.

"Forming an unelected government is illegitimate and will bring more conflict and violence," warned Tarit Pengdith, head of the Ministry of Justice's Department of Special Investigation (DSI).