BANGKOK - A firebrand opposition leader vowed Monday to escalate his campaign to topple Thailand’s government and ordered his followers to storm Bangkok’s police headquarters after they fought all day with riot police protecting heavily barricaded key buildings.
Earlier Monday, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said she is willing to do anything it takes to end the violent protests but made it clear she cannot accept the opposition’s demand to hand power to an unelected council.
“Right now we don’t see any way to resolve the problem under the constitution,” she said at a news conference.
Yingluck’s comments highlight the unusual political deadlock Thailand finds itself in with no clear solution in sight. The standoff intensified as protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban gave a speech late Monday to thousands of cheering supporters at a government complex they seized last week.
The protests have renewed fears of prolonged instability in Southeast Asia’s second-biggest economy.
Even if Yingluck dissolves parliament and calls fresh elections, Suthep said, he will “continue the fight … because they can always come back to suck the blood of people, steal from people, disrespect the constitution and make us their slaves.”
“If people are happy with elections and go home, I will remain here alone,” he said.
Earlier Monday, protesters commandeered garbage trucks and bulldozers and tried to ram concrete barriers at the Government House and other key offices.
Police repelled them by firing tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets as protesters shot back explosives from homemade rocket launchers.
At least three people were killed and more than 200 injured in the past three days of violence, which capped a week of street rallies that drew crowds of more than 100,000 at their peak.
A Bangkok hospital confirmed that two of the people it treated Monday had gunshot wounds, but it is not clear who shot them. Police say they have not used lethal rounds.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is “concerned” about the situation in Thailand and urged all sides to exercise “utmost restraint,” said his spokesman, Martin Nesirky.
The protesters, who are mostly middle-class Bangkok supporters of the opposition Democrat Party, accuse Yingluck of being a proxy for her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. He was deposed in a 2006 military coup but remains central to Thailand’s political crisis and is a focal point for the protesters’ hatred.
The protesters say their goal is to uproot the political machine of Thaksin, who is accused of widespread corruption and abuse of power.
Suthep called on his supporters to attack and take over the Bangkok Metropolitan Police headquarters today, saying the police are working for Thaksin and Yingluck.
Early this morning, Bangkok police removed concrete barriers and barbed wire around the headquarters after agreeing to let anti-government protesters into the building ahead of the threatened assault.
Reporters saw cranes lifting the concrete panels at the Sri Ayutthaya Road in the historic part of the city as protest leaders gave speeches from trucks.
The unexpected move was apparently aimed at avoiding further clashes between the two sides.
Monday’s violence took place around key institutions - the Government House, parliament and Metropolitan Police Bureau in the historic quarter of the capital. The area has some of Bangkok’s main tourist attractions such as the Grand Palace, Wat Pho temple, the Bangkok zoo and the backpacker area of Khao San Road. Most of Bangkok, a city of 10 million, has beenunaffected.
The protesters’ numbers have dwindled from more than 100,000 a week ago, but hard-core groups remain, fighting running battles with the police.
In her news conference, Yingluck struck a conciliatory tone, repeatedly pleading for negotiations and implying she is willing to hold elections.
“I am not against either resignation or dissolution of parliament if this solution will stop the protests,” she said.
“The government is not trying to cling to power.”
She and Suthep met briefly Sunday in the presence of top military leaders, even though he had an arrest warrant against him. A second arrest warrant was issued Monday on charges of insurrection.
Information for this article was contributed by Vijay Joshi, Jocelyn Gecker, Grant Peck, Papitchaya Boonngok and Raul Gallego Abellan of The Associated Press.
Front Section, Pages 6 on 12/03/2013