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Thai anti-government protesters stopped a two-days street unrest in the heart of the capital as police allowed them to enter the compounds of the Government House and the metropolitan police headquarters on Tuesday.
Hundreds of anti-government protesters were allowed passage to get inside the compounds of the Government House and the metropolitan police headquarters after two previous days of struggling to get in and occupy. Both the protesters and the policemen were all smiles, hugging, taking pictures, exchanging pleasantries and flowers handed out as though the fighting which got started on Sunday had never occurred.
Center for the Administration of Peace and Order spokesman Pol Maj Gen Piya Uthayo confirmed that the protesters had not caused any turbulence or damage to government property as they entered those government premises.
Over the last two days, they had cut barbed wires and dismantled concrete barricades which divided them from the policemen as they intended to enter and occupy those places. Bulldozers and garbage trucks were used to ram the wires and barricades to give way to the angry demonstrators, but the police fired tear gas and managed to keep them at bay.
While the police had fired tear gas, the protesters hurled plastic bombs, giant firecrackers and rocks at those government premises.
They had earlier intended to occupy the Government House and the metropolitan police headquarters after they had already seized a complex of government units, state-run telephone and telecom agencies and the Department of Special Investigation in Jang Wattana area.
Meanwhile, former deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban who had organized and directed the month-long mass protests has remained inside the Jang Wattana complex, the perimeters of which were blocked up with vehicles to keep the police from entering and arresting him. Arrest warrants have been issued for Suthep on rebellion charges and criminal charges involving the protesters' occupation of the government premises.
Fliers depicting the court-approved arrest warrants for the ring leader were delivered mid-air from a police helicopter hovering over the government complex. But Sutheop showed no signs of surrendering to the police as yet.
He had earlier resolved to completely eradicate "Thaksin rule" which allegedly influenced the elected government under Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
In the presence of top military leaders, Yingluck held an informal dialogue with Suthep on Sunday and offered on Monday to consider stepping down or dissolving parliament in bid to defuse the political crisis and end the protests and occupations of the government premises.
