adminBANGKOK. — About 30 000 protesters launched a “people’s coup” on Thailand’s government yesterday, swarming multiple state agencies in violent clashes, taking control of a broadcaster and forcing the prime minister to flee a police compound.
Police fired teargas on protesters who hurled stones and petrol bombs in demonstrations that paralysed parts of Bangkok and followed a night of gun and knife battles in which two people were killed and at least 54 wounded.
A group of protesters forced Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to evacuate to an undisclosed location from a building where she had planned to give media interviews, while hundreds seized control of state broadcaster Thai PBS, waving flags and tooting whistles.
Declaring yesterday “V-Day” in a week-long bid to topple Yingluck and end her family’s more than decade-long influence over Thai politics, protest leaders urged supporters to seize 10 government offices, six television stations, police headquarters and the prime minister’s offices in what they are calling a “people’s coup”. — Reuters.
Bongani Ndlovu
Online Reporter