THAILAND'S army chief has refused to rule out military intervention to defuse an escalating political crisis.
It is the latest blow for a government determined that a February election will go ahead despite deadly clashes with protesters.
General Prayuth Chan-ocha said "the door was neither open nor closed" when asked whether a coup would happen: a marked shift from the strong denials the armed forces routinely make.
He added: "Anything can happen. It depends on the situation. We are trying to do the right thing, in a peaceful way and we urge negotiations."
The general's comments represent a major setback at a critical time for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is under attack from opponents determined to overthrow her and weaken the influence of her self-exiled brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
She has called an election for February, which her Puea Thai Party is almost certain to win, but anti-government protesters have vowed to stop the poll.
The Election Commission (EC) also asked for a postponement after violent clashes on Thursday.
The political deadlock and violence have become all too familiar in Thailand, where the military have staged or attempted to stage 18 coups in 81 years of democracy.
South-east Asia's second-biggest economy is divided broadly between those who love Thaksin, such as the rural poor in the populous north and north-east, and those who loathe him, a group that includes Bangkok's conservative elite and middle class.
The events of the past few days suggest powerful forces could again be at work to undermine Thaksin's populist political machine, which has won every election since 2001.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article