SCENARIOS - Thailand's political crisis: how it might play out

By Darren Schuettler

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai protesters vowed to intensify their campaign against the government on Wednesday, a day after two people died and more than 400 were injured in the worst street violence in 16 years.

The Southeast Asian nation has been locked in crisis since the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) began street protests in May, accusing the government of being a puppet of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Following are some scenarios of what might happen next, although none are likely to heal the fundamental rift between the rural and urban poor who support Thaksin, ousted in a 2006 coup, and the Bangkok middle classes who despise him.

CRISIS DRAGS ON, SPORADIC VIOLENCE

The political crisis rumbles on for months, with sporadic outbreaks of street violence as the PAD seeks to deal a knock-out blow to the government, possibly by triggering a reaction from the military.

The PAD may try to use Tuesday's violence to lobby unionised workers at state utilities to begin rolling strike action, disrupting services and piling pressure on the government.

"They are just going to keep poking and prodding, hoping for some kind of breakthrough over the next weeks or months," one foreign stock analyst said of the PAD.