BANGKOK ? A Thai court on Saturday handed six-month jail sentences to 27 protesters arrested during clashes with troops in the capital, a senior security official said.

"To the families of people at the protest: tell them that the rally is illegal and the court will hand down heavy sentences without probation," said Tarit Pengdit, head of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI).

The demonstrators had faced up to a year in jail under emergency laws invoked in Bangkok, but their sentences were commuted by the district court because they confessed, he said at a news conference.

But he noted that the sentences were tougher than earlier ones handed out to demonstrators arrested in the recent unrest.

At least sixteen people died and dozens were injured in Friday's fighting in the heart of the capital between soldiers and "Red Shirt" protesters seeking to overthrow a government they see as elitist and undemocratic.