Another video clip purportedly showing excessive force used by armed soldiers against a red-shirted protester was shown during the second and final day of the joint House session yesterday, prompting a swift response from Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to look into the matter.

The House failed to come up with any meaningful consensus to break the political impasse, as the government and the opposition Pheu Thai Party kept trading accusations and counter-accusations regarding the violence and claims of possible deaths during the April 13-14 failed red-shirt insurrection.

The minute or so footage shown by Pheu Thai MP Vorawat Eaw-apinyakul, representing Phrae, appeared to have been taken before dawn at the Din Daeng intersection on April 13 when the military crackdown began. It showed a red-shirted protester on the floor being cornered by half a dozen soldiers.

Voices heard from the video clip included soldiers telling then man to "Shut up", with another one saying "Shut up you animal! Don't speak" as the senior officer told the soldiers "Don't hit him!" and "Enough! enough!" as more kicking and beating ensued.

The clip was shown with a small box inserted of Abhisit telling the public on TV that the "highest respect for human dignity" had been accorded the protesters in the crackdown.

"Honourable Speaker. Is this not violent?" asked Vorawat. 'They brought the soldiers out and thought it wouldn't turn violent? Look at how the man was beaten up."

Looking displeased, Abhisit quickly told the joint House sitting that there would be an investigation.

"I insist that nobody is comfortable seeing such images. The government must pay attention and will take the pictures into consideration...It's like many other violent incidents such as the G-20 meetings when force was used and there must be an investigation to solve the problem."

Vorawat wasn't finished and went on to produce a still picture of what he claimed to be the same man but without a shirt and with both wrists tied behind him by a blue rope.

He compared it to another picture of one of the two security guards, who he claimed to have been red-shirt guards, who was found floating dead on Chao Phya River.

He said such ropes were used exclusively by the military and the tie-ups were probably the work of the military.

The allegations of deaths was categorically denied by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban.

Later in the afternoon, another Pheu Thai MP and leader of the Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship, Jatuporn Promphan, hit the government with an alleged conspiracy theory.

Jatuporn claimed the hijacked LPG gas tankers parked in front of the King Power shopping mall and Din Daeng areas on April 13 were staged by a figure behind a government coalition party who also commanded the men in blue T-shirts in Pattaya to attack the red shirts.

Jatuporn claimed that the attack on a mosque and the killing of two Nang Lerng residents in Bangkok were also staged by the same politician, who is supporting the government, because the reds would not gain anything from it.

Jatuporn said he believed protesters have been killed by the military, but their relatives dare not report it to the government because it's the very same government which killed their relatives.

"Anyone who kills people who protest to call for democracy is a tyrant ... So I will not call for [Abhisit's] resignation because you will later be tried for [ordering] manslaughter."

Other Democrat MPs such as Chamni Sakdiset praised the military for its crackdown with no fatality, however. "This is the first time in |history that the military came out and lives were not lost," he said. --The Nation / Asia News Network