The demonstrators said they planned to go on the offensive on Wednesday with daily mobile rallies across Bangkok, a provocative move in defiance of a state of emergency that could lead to clashes with troops or with rival protest groups.

“We will distribute pamphlets and create understanding among Bangkok people about what we are doing,” said Kwanchai Praipanna, a Red Shirt protest leader. “If the troops stop us, we will break through roadblocks.”

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuangsuban vowed action to prevent that. “It is clear the protesters are not gathering peacefully. We will not be lenient with these people anymore.”

Hopes for an end to the standoff were dashed at the weekend when Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva rejected a proposal by the protesters for an election in three months, saying an immediate poll could turn violent and refusing to negotiate under threat.

The Red Shirt supporters of ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have fortified their encampment in Bangkok’s commercial heart that has forced five major shopping plazas to close, preparing for what they believe is an imminent crackdown. “I’m not scared they will disperse us,” said Niwet Sawangwong, 38, an electrician from Bangkok.

“I’m getting tired of all the threats and rumors. Maybe if they want to force us out, they should do it and let’s see who wins and who are the bad guys.”

But the army, which led a failed operation against a Red Shirt rally site on April 10 that killed 25 people and wounded 800, does not want to be dragged into battle with civilians.

“The army would rather see the government exhaust political means first,” a military source told Reuters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“We need to prevent trouble from spreading and containing the unrest, but actually ending it altogether would be very difficult without a political solution as well,” he said.

The mostly rural and urban poor Red Shirts inflicted traffic chaos in Bangkok on Tuesday by stacking tires on the platform of an rail station by their protest site, worried troops would use the elevated rail system to attack them from above.

Operating company BTS closed the network for nearly four hours during morning rush hour. The trains carry around 450,000 passengers a day in the city of roughly 15 million people.

Overnight, Red Shirts massed on a main thoroughfare into Bangkok, trying to stop the army and police from sending reinforcements into the capital. Some army trucks got through.

Analysts say the deadlock and a possible deterioration in law and order could continue for weeks, carving into Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy, with consumer confidence flagging and the tourist industry suffering.