Bangkok,  May 18,  2010 :  Thai protest leaders said Tuesday they are ready for talks mediated by the speaker of the Senate to end violence in Bangkok. but analysts doubted the negotiations would halt the spiraling violence.A group of 64 senators in the 150-member Seante proposed the talks and offered to mediate with the protesters, urging a ceasefire on both sides.

“We have agreed to take a new round of talks proposed by the Senate because if we allow things to go on like this, we don’t know how many more lives will be lost,” Nattawut Saikua told a news conference at the red shirt protesters’ fortified camp in central Bangkok.

Troops have surrounded thousands of anti-government demonstrators in the fortified camp they have occupied for six weeks in central Bangkok, as soldiers armed with assault rifles skirmish with protesters on several major roads in the capital.An estimated 5,000 of the red-shirted protesters remain in a camp covering 3 sq km (1.2 sq miles) of an upmarket shopping district, set up as part of a movement that began in mid-March with the aim of toppling the government and forcing elections.

The authorities had warned them to leave by 3 p.m. on Monday, but the deadline passed without action being taken. Public holidays have been declared until Friday.

Hundreds of women and children took refuge in a temple inside the protest area, but some protesters fought with soldiers in areas around the camp.The Thai government said late Monday that it would accept a cease-fire offer from a Red Shirt protest leader if their fighters end raging street battles and return to their main camp.