Anti-government
protesters in Bangkok on Wednesday surrounded the temporary office of
caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, the day after a police
crackdown left five dead in the capital's centre.
Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary general of the People's
Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), led a convoy of 200 cars to the
Permanent Secretary of Defence office in northern Bangkok, which
Yingluck and the cabinet have been using as a temporary office since
protesters closed down Government House in December.
Yingluck and her caretaker cabinet were not there, and the building was heavily guarded by soldiers behind barbed wire. Suthep has vowed to escalate his campaign to force Yingluck to resign following her government's crackdown on his rally sites. Police
on Tuesday attempted to retake the neighbourhood around Government
House, resulting in an exchange of fire that left one policeman and four
protesters dead and at least 63 people injured, according to the Erawan
Emergency Medical Centre.
Suthep said the protesters had been unarmed in Tuesday's clashes, which the government denied.
A
total of 15 people have died and more than 700 have been injured in
protest-related violence since the PDRC launched its campaign to
paralyze Yingluck's government on November 24.
The PDRC
is calling for her to step down and for a Senate-appointed prime
minister to establish a "people's assembly" to legislate political
reforms before the next election.
The movement's main
goal is to root out the influence of Yingluck's brother, fugitive former
prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, whose populist policies have won his
parties every election since 2001.
Thaksin has been living in self-exile since 2008 to avoid a two-year jail sentence on an abuse-of-power conviction.
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