THAILAND - Foreign tourists and residents make merry on the streets of Bangkok on Tuesday and Wednesday, during the annual water festival Songkran.

It was a startling contrast to the frightening scenes on Monday, when hundreds of red-shirted protesters threw Molotov cocktails and rocks at soldiers, who responded with volleys of gunfire.

But the protests drew to a peaceful end on Tuesday, and the Thai capital quickly returned to some semblance of normalcy during the Songkran festival, which people celebrate by throwing water on each other.

Songkran marks the New Year in the traditional Thai calendar.

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Photos: AFP, Reuters