Police in Thailand have fired tear gas to disperse a demonstration by thousands of anti-government protesters in Bangkok. | A senior government minister in Thailand has resigned after violent clashes between police and protesters. |
At least 65 people were injured as police intervened in the dawn protest in front of parliament. | Deputy PM Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said he was stepping down to take responsibility for the clashes, which injured at least 65 people. |
The clashes came just hours before new PM Somchai Wongsawat was to deliver a key policy statement. | The clashes came just hours before new Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat delivered his inaugural speech. |
The protesters say he is a proxy for ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra and want the government to resign. | Police fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters trying to block the road leading to parliament. |
The protesters have occupied the grounds of government buildings for six weeks in a largely peaceful demonstration. | The protesters say Mr Somchai and his recently ousted predecessor, Samak Sundaravej, are both just proxies for former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. |
Regrouped | Mr Thaksin, Mr Somchai's brother-in-law, was forced from office in a military coup in 2006. |
A medical officer told reporters that 65 people had been injured and several were in critical condition. | The protesters have been occupying the grounds of government buildings for six weeks, but the demonstration had so far been largely peaceful. |
Petpong Kumtonkitjakarn, from the Erawan Medical Centre, told Associated Press two were seriously hurt. "One of them lost his leg, another was hit with shrapnel in the chest." | They are members of the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group that wants to replace the one-man, one-vote system with a system in which some of the representatives are chosen by professions and social groups rather than the general electorate. |
Somchai Wongsawat is a softly spoken former judge | |
Television showed protesters trying to build tyre barricades outside parliament. | |
Maj Gen Anan Srihiran told Reuters: "It was absolutely necessary for police to use tear gas to break up the crowd. | |
"We only wanted to open up a road for the cabinet to enter parliament. We will not do anything else to the protesters for the rest of the day." | |
However there were later reports of fresh tear gas firing near parliament. | |
The protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) have regrouped outside the building. | |
They had marched to parliament late on Monday to try to seal off the building. | |
The alliance says the government must resign because of its links to Mr Thaksin, who lives in exile. It accuses him of corruption. | |
Protest leader Sondhi Limthongkul said this was the "final battle". | |
Loudspeakers pleaded with people to "come out and join" the fight. | |
Correspondents said the confrontation comes after two PAD leaders had been arrested in recent days, and may have been engineered to rally supporters to the protest movement. | |
Mr Somchai insisted the address would go ahead. | |
"It is not right for the PAD to obstruct the representatives of the people," he said. | |
The alliance turned its attention on Mr Somchai after he replaced Samak Sundaravej, who was dismissed on a conflict of interest charge. | |
The protesters want to replace one-man, one-vote with a system that has some representatives chosen by professions and social groups. | |
The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says the new government has indicated it wants to start negotiations with the PAD - but it is also pushing ahead with controversial plans to amend the constitution, a key grievance of the protesters.
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