'Public, please do not panic. The troops are being sent out not because there is another coup. Absolutely the military will not stage a coup. It's not good for our country,' General Anupong Paojinda told reporters.

One person was killed and hundreds injured Tuesday as police and anti-government demonstrators clashed outside parliament, with rounds of tear gas deployed as authorities tried to contain the protests.

An unknown number of troops from the army, navy and air force were deployed on the streets of Bangkok to help police maintain law and order, army spokesman Colonel Sunsern Kaewkumnerd said earlier on Tuesday.

Thousands of protesters from an anti-government coalition have been barricaded in at Bangkok's main government compound since late August and on Tuesday the group brought thousands more to parliament.

They are demanding that Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat resign and accuse his government of being a puppet of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Protests by the same anti-government coalition helped lead to the 2006 coup that unseated Thaksin - the 18th putsch in the kingdom. -- AFP

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1 dead, scores injured in Thai protests