Thai anti-govt protesters storm govt ministries

Anti-government demonstrators in Thailand today stormed the compounds of two key ministries and warned of seizing other government buildings, dramatically escalating their protests aimed at toppling beleaguered Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Rival rallies have been staged here with tens of thousands of pro and anti-government protesters flooding the streets in the most serious confrontation in Thailand since the 2010 bloody protests in which over 90 people were killed.
Anti-government protesters want Yingluck to step down amid claims that her government was remote-controlled by her older brother, ousted former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra.
Thaksin has lived in a self-imposed exile in Dubai to avoid jail on a corruption conviction.

Hundreds of protesters first stormed into the finance ministry compound and later forced their way into the foreign ministry building. Both the compounds were apparently left unguarded by the security forces.
The anti-government protesters broke down the gates to the foreign ministry and after occupying an area of the compound they asked civil servants to leave and not to return to work tomorrow, an official said.

"Tomorrow we will seize all ministries to show to the Thaksin system that they have no legitimacy to run the country," Suthep Thaugsuban, a former opposition MP, said, addressing the crowd.
"It was a peaceful seizure by the people," Suthep said at a press conference from the finance ministry.

Earlier, protesters chanting "Thaksin get out, army come in", called for the intervention of the military in a country that has seen 18 actual or attempted coups since it became a constitutional monarchy in 1932.
Thailand's Opposition Democrat party leader and former premier Abhisit Vejjajiva today urged Prime Minister Yingluck and the ruling Pheu Thai Party to take responsibility for the ongoing protests.
He said the large number of people gathering was a significant expression of the Thai society who want to see a change.