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 The intrusion was the boldest act yet in opposition-led protests
that started last month. It highlights the movement's new strategy
of paralyzing the government by forcing civil servants to stop
working.
Protesters say they want Yingluck to step down amid claims that her
government is controlled by her brother, former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a military coup in 2006. On
Sunday, more than 150,000 demonstrators marched in Bangkok in the
largest rally Thailand has seen in years.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban led the crowd at the Finance
Ministry on a day when protesters fanned out to 13 locations across
Bangkok, snarling traffic and raising concerns of violence in the
country's ongoing political crisis, which has revolved around
Thaksin for years.
"Go up to every floor, go into every room, but do not destroy
anything," Suthep told the crowd before he entered the ministry and
held a meeting in its conference room.
"Make them see this is people's power!" said Suthep, a former deputy
prime minister and opposition lawmaker.
Protesters sang, danced and blew noisy whistles in the hallways as
part of their "whistle-blowing" campaign against the government. One
group cut power at the Budget Bureau to pressure the agency to stop
funding government projects.
Police made no immediate move to oust them.
More than two dozen Bangkok schools along the protest route were
closed Monday and police tightened security at the protest
destinations, which included the military and police headquarters
and the five television stations controlled by the military or the
government.
Despite a heavy police presence at most protest sites, there was
limited security at the Finance Ministry.
At another protest near the prime minister's office, police were
outnumbered by more than 1,000 protesters who scuffled with officers
and tore down a razor wire barricade. A foreign freelance journalist
in the crowd was punched by protesters who accused him of biased
reporting before security personnel intervened.
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Many fear that clashes could erupt between the anti-government
protesters and Thaksin's supporters, who are staging their own rally
at a Bangkok stadium and have vowed to stay until the opposition
calls off its demonstrations.
Thaksin's supporters and opponents have battled for power since he
was toppled in 2006 following street protests accusing him of
corruption and disrespect for the country's constitutional monarch,
King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin has lived in self-imposed exile for
the past five years to avoid a prison sentence on a corruption
conviction.
The battle for power has sometimes led to bloodshed on Bangkok's
streets. About 90 people were killed in 2010 when Thaksin's "Red
Shirt" supporters occupied parts of central Bangkok for weeks before
the government, led then by the current opposition, sent the
military to crack down.
The latest protests have ended two years of relative calm under
Yingluck's government.
Yingluck's administration has struggled to contain the
demonstrations, which started over opposition to a government-backed
political amnesty bill that critics said was designed to bring
Thaksin home from exile. The Senate rejected the bill earlier this
month in a bid to end the protests. But the rallies have gained
momentum and leaders have now shifted their target to the goal of
toppling the "Thaksin regime," which is how protesters refer to
Yingluck's government.
The intrusion at the Finance Ministry raised the specter of a repeat
of 2008 protests when Thaksin's opponents were protesting a
different Thaksin-allied government and occupied the prime
minister's office compound for three months.
[Associated
Press; THANYARAT DOKSONE]
Copyright 2013 The Associated
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