National army chief Prayuth Chan-ocha has repeated that he cannot promise that there will or will not be a coup in response to the country's political stalemate.
Gen Prayuth also insisted on Friday that grenades fired from M79 launchers at anti-government protest sites recently were not from the military.
Coups were staged in the past because there were violence and injustice, the army chief said. But now the world has changed and so have political conditions and people.
The army is trying to avoid getting to the stage where a coup would even be considered because it is dangerous, Gen Prayuth told reporters.
Gen Prayuth: If the law can't solve the problem, we may use "special means".
"I can't promise whether there will be a coup. I have to admit that it might not be legal but previous coups were carried out to end certain situations.
"Every problem must be solved using the law. But if it still can't be solved, we may have to use special means," said Gen Prayuth, who will retire in September.
Discussing speculation that grenades used to attack protest sites originated with the military, he said that was not possible.
The military grenades are still in the arsenal and are inspected every day, he said, adding that the grenades used in the attacks probably were smuggled from somewhere else.
He condemned the people involved in the attacks saying they were inhumane.
"The M79 grenades should be used against enemies of the country but they are now being fired at civilians, including children, women and elderly people," Gen Prayuth said.
He also said the military was not supporting the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) as some sides have claimed. Supporters of both the PDRC and the pro-government United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) are all Thai people, he added.
Military officers can take part in political rallies but they must not join them during working hours and are prohibited from carrying military weapons, or they could be dismissed, he said.
He made the comments as a survey showed that many people believe both the police and the armed forces should do more to protect the people as political violence intensifies.
Pollsters at the National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) interviewed 1,255 people of all education levels and occupations on Feb 26 and 27.
The survey followed recent lethal attacks on a PDRC protest site in Trat where two children died, and the Ratchaprasong area of Bangkok where two children and an adult died.
Asked about who should be held responsible for the attacks that killed four young children, 39.4% of the respondents pointed to the government, and 26.6% said all involved parties must take responsibility, particularly the attackers.
A further 16.6% blamed the PDRC, 4.9% pointed to police, 4% blamed the Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO), 0.6% said former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and 7.9% were unsure, Nida said.
Asked about what role the armed forces should play, 47.5% said soldiers should step out to protect the people and to maintain peace in the country, but 29% disagreed, saying that soldiers should stay impartial.
Only 13.5% wanted the armed forces to stage a coup to end the political conflict, while 3.3% said the armed forces should support the caretaker government, 2.1% said soldiers should perform their duty and act as a mediators, and 4.2% were unsure.
On the role of police, 62.1%, said police should protect people's lives and assets and ensure law and order, but 24.6% want police to stay neutral.
Only 2.9% said police should side with the caretaker government, while 4.5% gave other opinions, among them fairly performing their duties, particularly catching those inciting violence, and guarding protesters at rally sites, while 6% had no comment.