Anti-Govt Protest March in Bangkok,Thailand Monday Nov 25,2013

 

Bangkok braced for major disruptions Monday Nov 25,2013 as a massive anti-government march fanned out to 13 locations in a growing bid to topple the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
A boisterous rally on Sunday brought up to 180,000 anti-government demonstrators to the streets of Bangkok, according to the National Security Council

 

Protesters in Thailand's capital entered the Finance Ministry compound on Monday Nov 25,2013 in an escalating campaign to topple the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.Protesters say they want Yingluck to step down amid claims that her government is controlled by her older brother, ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra

 

A crowd of protesters swarmed into the compound's courtyard and then entered buildings, including the ministry itself and the Budget Bureau, in the boldest act yet of opposition-led protests that started last month.

The intrusion was one of several tense encounters on a day when protesters fanned out to 13 locations across Bangkok, snarling traffic and raising concerns of violence in Thailand's ongoing political crisis

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister and opposition lawmaker, urged the crowd to enter the Budget Bureau and to cut electricity and water to pressure the agency to stop financing government projects.

 

"Go up to every floor, go into every room, but do not destroy anything," Suthep told the crowd, standing on a truck and speaking through a megaphone. "Make them see this is people's power."

A Thai opposition protester holds up a framed portrait of King Bhumibol Adulyadej as he and others take part in one of several anti-government marches through Bangkok on Monday, Nov 25, 2013
 


 An anti-government protester blows a whistle and holds a placard during a rally at Thailand's Finance Ministry in central Bangkok on Monday, Nov 25, 2013
 

Anti-government protesters are marching in Bangkok for a 4th day on Wed Nov 27,2013 pledging to shut down government ministries. 

The group, who want the government to step down, are heading to a complex of government offices outside the city.

The protest leader said they would surround and shut down 14 ministries, in a bid to disrupt the government.
They accuse the government of being controlled by the prime minister's brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, and want to replace it with a non-elected body

The protests are being led by former opposition Democrat Party lawmaker Suthep Thaugsuban, for whom police have issued an arrest warrant.

They began on Sunday Nov 24,2013 and so far have targeted the finance, foreign and interior ministries, among others.Sunday's estimated 100,000 protesters comprised the biggest number the capital has seen in recent years. The protesters are angered by a controversial government-backed political amnesty bill.

Thailand's Troubles

• Sept 2006: Army overthrows government of Thaksin Shinawatra, rewrites constitution
• Dec 2007: Pro-Thaksin People Power Party wins most votes in election
• Aug 2008: Mr Thaksin flees into self-imposed exile before end of corruption trial
• Dec 2008: Mass yellow-shirt protests paralyse Bangkok; Constitutional Court bans People Power Party; Abhisit Vejjajiva comes to power
• Mar-May 2010: Thousands of pro-Thaksin red shirts occupy parts of Bangkok; eventually cleared by army; dozens killed
• July 2011: Yingluck Shinawatra leads Pheu Thai party to general election win
• Nov 2013: Anti-government protesters begin street demonstrations

Thai PM invokes emergency law around Bangkok 

   

Thailand's embattled premier on Monday invoked a special security law in the capital Bangkok and nearby areas after protesters stormed key ministries in a bid to topple the government.

"While the government will enforce the laws it will not use force against the people," Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said as she announced the decision to impose the Internal Security Act in the entire capital.

"The government would like to ask people not to join illegal protests and to respect the law," she added.

Hundreds of protesters in Thailand forced their way into the army headquarters in Bangkok, on the sixth day of anti-government rallies on Friday Nov 29,2013

The protesters broke open a gate, held a rally in the compound asking for the army's help in their campaign, and later withdrew without confrontation

Anti-government protestors shout slogans and wave flags as they move towards the US embassy during a protest march in Bangkok on November 29, 2013

Thai opposition protesters marched on key state communications targets on Saturday Nov 30,2013 after vowing a final push to topple the government, as the capital braces for mass rival rallies. Protesters on Saturday began surrounding offices of Telephone Organisation of Thailand (TOT) and Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT), two key state telecoms firms.

Defiant demonstrators have besieged key government buildings in Bangkok in the biggest street protests since mass rallies in 2010 degenerated into the kingdom's worst civil strife in decades.

The protesters -- a mix of royalists, southerners and the urban middle class sometimes numbering in their tens of thousands -- are united by their loathing of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.