Thai anti-government protesters ringed by soldiers have said they will disperse from their stronghold at government offices in the capital.

Saying they were concerned about the safety of demonstrators following violence on Monday that left two people dead and more than a hundred injured in street battles, protest leaders used loudspeakers to call for protesters to withdraw on Tuesday.

Al Jazeera's Tony Cheng, reporting from Government House in the capital, Bangkok, said protesters were beginning to slowly move away from their positions at barricades as troops stayed put just 50m away.

The protesters appeared to be moving reluctantly and some on the ground said they were not going to give up but move to another site about a kilometre away.

But there did appear to be quite a lot of movement as protesters packed up and there was a sense of relief in the air, our correspondent said.

Prateep Ungsongtham Hata, a protest leader, told the AFP news agency that leaders held talks throughout the night and "agreed that we will disperse our protesters for a while".

"But our leaders will not surrender," she added.

Just hours earlier, protesters were preparing themselves for more confrontations with the military on Tuesday after troops moved in on them early on Monday after weeks of relatively peaceful demonstrations.

Refusing the protesters' demand to resign and dissolve parliament, Abhisit Vejjajiva, the prime minister, had urged the protesters to go home.