Protesters at the Thai-Japanese sports stadium clashed with police on 26 December 2013, resulting in two fatalities (one police officer was killed by a live bullet fired by a protester). Protesters armed themselves with sling shots and wore gas masks to fight with police, and around 200 people were injured. Due to the escalation in violence, the EC released a statement in which it urged the government to consider postponing the elections. The government explained that it was unable to change the date of the election, but remained open to discussions with protesters.