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Thai protesters scuffle with police in Bangkok

Anti-government protesters march toward police lines, taunting and battling police on the streets surrounding Government House yesterday in Bangkok. PHOTO: EPA

Defiant protesters scuffled with police yesterday as tensions flared on day four of the Bangkok government compound siege, but Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej kept his vow not to use violence to end the crisis.

Thousands of protesters have barricaded themselves in the government complex, accusing Samak of being a figurehead for ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and insisting he must step down.

Demonstrators overnight managed to expel about 1,000 police from their protest camp while police said they found a stash of weapons including machetes and golf clubs.

The campaign also appeared to be broadening, with protests reported in three southern tourist destinations, but Samak said his policy was unchanged.

“Police will still adhere to my earlier order — they merely went to post a court order, not to clear protesters,” he told reporters.

Riot police forced their way back into the grounds of Government House yesterday, while small skirmishes broke out as police used shields and batons to prevent angry mobs from entering the compound.

Thousands of police blocked the entrances to the sprawling compound, but by the afternoon their numbers appeared to be dwindling.

Colonel Noraboon Nanna, a police officer on the scene, earlier said about 13,000 protesters were inside the compound, with 8,000 police surrounding it.

Legal executors tried to enter to post a court injunction ordering the protesters to leave, but the demonstrators blocked them, forcing police to post the order on a lamppost close to the site.

“We have come here to get them to acknowledge the court order,” said the deputy chief of the metropolitan police, Major General Akerach Meepreecha.

“We will wait, we will give them time,” he said, adding: “If there is no reaction, the police will have to do something.”

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has been demonstrating against Samak for months, but events took a turn on Tuesday when protesters barricaded themselves inside the Government House grounds.

The courts have ordered the protesters to leave the site and issued arrest warrants for nine of the ringleaders on charges including rebellion.

But PAD said it would broaden its attack by holding national strikes.

Youdtana Tupcharoen, governor of the State Railways of Thailand, said 248 drivers and mechanics called in sick yesterday, halting of a quarter of all services.

A spokeswoman at the Airports of Thailand (AOT) operator said thousands of PAD sympathizers have blocked airports in the southern holiday destinations of Phuket and Hat Yai, while Thai TV said a similar rally broke out in Krabi.

“Five thousand protesters virtually blocked access to the Phuket International Airport so passengers cannot get in or out,” Monrudee Ketphan said.
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