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They also invited officials and members of the public to dress in black for seven days to mourn for those killed in Tuesday's bloodshed. However, the rally stopped near Siam Paragon to avoid a confrontation with National United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) members, whom they feared might attack them.

Some 200 UDD members at that time were at Royal Thai Police headquarters offering flowers in a show of moral support to the police for performing their duty in dispersing Tuesday's protest.

However, blackclad veterinarian Naowarat Suthamnatthapong from Chulalongkorn Animal Hospital bravely continued on to place a black wreath displaying the words "To those who should protect the people but instead hurt them" in front of the headquarters' sign. She was scolded by some UDD supports wearing red shirts while police watched from a distance.

Naowarat said she came to express her objections to the police's heavyhanded tactics that caused a doctor friend to lose some fingers.

The blackclad rally caused heavy traffic jams on Rama I Road until about noon, when they dispersed peacefully.

The group also issued a statement objecting to police measures that resulted in death and injury among the protesters, saying the actions violated people's constitutional rights and set a standard of violence to be used in solving social conflicts.

Offering condolences to the dead and injured, as well as to police officers, they called for all sides to stop using violence or provoking confrontations and urged the government to take care of those affected fully and equally.

They called for the government and Parliament to take responsibility for what happened and form an independent committee to investigate the incident and root out the masterminds.

They also urged the media to maintain a close watch on the political situation.

Black attire in protest against Tuesday's violence was also seen elsewhere yesterday.

In the North, Chiang Mai Cultural Council president Chao Duangduan na Chiang Mai said descendants of Northern Kingdom rulers with the last names of na Chiang Mai, na Lamphun and na Lampang also dressed in black to mourn the innocent slain and called for police not to use violence.

In the South, students and teachers of Prince of Songkhla University's Hat Yai campus dressed in black and condemned the government's violent crackdown on protesters. Some 100 supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy in Krabi dressed in black and rallied at the city hall and the provincial police office to object to the government's violent actions.