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SINGAPORE, Dec 1, 2008 (AFP) - Singapore urged Thai authorities and protesters to exercise restraint and called for a peaceful solution to the standoff following blasts at protest sites in Bangkok over the weekend.
"We trust all parties will exercise utmost restraint and find a peaceful resolution of their differences," a spokesman with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said late Sunday in a statement.
"Resorting to violence can never be justified.
"We hope that the situation will return to normal as soon as possible so that the safety of stranded foreigners can be assured."
The comments were made in response to media queries after blasts at Government House and outside the domestic Don Mueang airport wounded dozens of people over the weekend.
Foreign governments are racing to evacuate around 100,000 frustrated travellers stranded in Bangkok which has been hit by almost a week of civil unrest.
Thousands of anti-government protesters stormed into Bangkok's Suvarnabhumi international airport and Don Mueang last week, forcing the cancellation of commercial flights in and out of the Thai capital.
The government's failure to end the occupation of Bangkok's two airports by its foes in the royalist People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has sparked speculation of a repeat of the putsch that toppled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra in 2006.
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