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 Leaders of the movement met at a sprawling government
administrative center also under occupation to debate how to breathe
fresh life into their movement, showing no signs of giving up even
through protest numbers have dwindled.
The protests are the latest eruption of a conflict that pits the
Bangkok-based royalist establishment against mostly poorer Thais
loyal to Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her brother, former
premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled by the military in 2006
and lives in self-imposed exile.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban was due to address his supporters
in the evening.
"Tonight, he will announce the plan from now until December 9, which
is our ultimate deadline. There will be activities this weekend and
we will fight harder than ever before," said Teerapa Promphan, a
spokeswoman for the movement.
The protesters have missed successive deadlines for forcing Yingluck
out. From Sunday to Tuesday they launched a wave of attacks on her
office at Government House and other state buildings.
Police stepped aside on Tuesday and allowed them in, defusing the
confrontation. The protesters stayed only briefly in the grounds of
the offices they had been trying to storm before pulling back to
their rally sites.
Five people have died in the political violence since last weekend,
all apparently in clashes between pro- and anti-government
supporters. Scores have been wounded, most through inhaling teargas.
Police and the government's emergency medical center said three
people were injured in two incidents overnight.
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"At least one was sent for emergency medical treatment at Rajavithi
hospital. He was injured at the Finance Ministry and his wound
appears to be a gunshot wound," said Pornthep Saeheng, an official
at the Erawan emergency center.
Protesters have occupied the ministry since November 25.
"A group of troublemakers on motorbikes drove towards the Finance
Ministry and there was a gunfight near where protesters were
gathered. One person was hurt," Adul Narongsak, deputy chief of
Bangkok Metropolitan Police, told Reuters.
He said two people were injured when someone threw a "ping pong
bomb", a small, crude explosive, at protesters near the Democracy
Monument, one of the protesters' main rally sites.
With the crisis in a lull rather than over, Yingluck has canceled a
series of trips to Russia, Myanmar and Japan scheduled for this
month.
The Thai baht remained weak on Friday at 32.34 per dollar, around a
three-month low, and the stock market lost 1 percent, dropping far
more than other Southeast Asian exchanges.
(Writing by Alan Raybould; editing by Robert Birsel)
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