"Peace be with you," Jesus says to his disciples in this Sunday's gospel option from John 20. Hopes were dashed Wednesday for a peaceful end to Thailand's two-month old political standoff between government forces and "Red Shirt" protesters.

Violence spread through the Thai capital of Bangkok in the wake of a deadly crackdown by security forces to end the occupation by anti-government demonstrators of the city's upscale commercial district. At least 40 have died in the conflict, including bystanders and several journalists.

As they retreated from government forces, some protesters set fire to the country's stock exchange and a number of other buildings including a major shopping mall, two banks, a movie theater, and a television station.

The government ordered a curfew Wednesday night, the subway system remained shut, and embassies told their citizens living across the sprawling metropolis of about 15 million people to stay indoors.

Leaders of the protest movement who had entered Bangkok on March 12 demanding fresh elections and calling for "true democracy" for the country surrendered to the police on Wednesday afternoon to spare further bloodshed, they said.

"We cannot resist against these savages anymore," Jatuporn Prompan, one of the leaders, said on a stage inside the protest zone before turning himself in. He was booed by protesters who wanted to defiantly carry on. "Please listen to me!" he pleaded to the crowd. "Brothers and sisters, I will use the word 'beg.' I beg you. We have to end this for now."

One protester who fled said she felt let down by the leaders of the movement. "Everyone feels that our leaders betrayed us," said Wanpamas Boonpun, 39, a restaurant owner. "We want democracy. True democracy, free democracy. Why is it so hard, why?" 

Source: Articles by Chris Hogg for BBC, Thomas Fuller, Seth Mydans, and Kirk Semple
for the New York Times, and VOA News