THE difference is stark. In May 1992 military death squads armed with automatic weapons roamed the streets of Bangkok, killing hundreds of pro-democracy demonstrators.

I saw a protester carrying a Thai flag walk alone towards a line of soldiers, pressing his hands together in the traditional Thai gesture of respect. Five soldiers rushed to him, smashing batons into his head. The man was dragged away, blood pouring from his face.

Fast forward 17 years, to the latest crisis. Soldiers take aim with their rifles at angry red-clad demonstrators in Bangkok. They open fire together as the protesters turn and run. But this time the bullets are blanks and the protesters don't drop in pools of blood. "We fired blank bullets that make a loud noise," said an army spokesman, Sansern Kaewkamnerd.

Army commander Songkitti Jaggabatara told journalists that soldiers and police would not use weapons indiscriminately against the protesters and firearms would only be used in self-defence.

The army, which has staged 19 coups or attempted coups in 70 years, is showing remarkable restraint in the face of extreme provocation from the supporters of exiled billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra.

Advised by a specially assembled unit of retired generals, the Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has so far thwarted Thaksin's apparent strategy to create enough violence to pave the way for his return to the country.

Thaksin's claim in a CNN interview that the military was covering up deaths and that "many" of his supporters had been killed was untrue. More than 100 people were injured as troops forced protesters off the streets to a stronghold they established at Government House, but none was killed.

Two people died in clashes between the protesters and Bangkok residents angry that their suburb had been turned into a war zone. Several thousand of Thaksin's supporters, defying a state of emergency, threw petrol bombs, sticks and bricks, set several buses alight and opened the valves of petrol and LPG trucks at intersections.

Some analysts in Bangkok say Thaksin's strategy appears to be to hold Thailand to ransom as he bargains for amnesty. Amid anarchy, King Bhumibol Adulyadej would intervene to end the crisis.

But it appears likely that Mr Abhisit, who took power after the siege of Thailand's airports late last year, will survive this latest crisis, for the moment. He may even consolidate his power. "Our priority is restoring law and order," Mr Abhisit said.