(3 Dec 2013) Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister's office compound on Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes.
Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory.
The unexpected reversal of strategy by the government suggests it no longer wants to confront the protesters and was willing to compromise to ease tensions ahead of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 86th birthday on Thursday.
After bitterly resisting protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets since Saturday, police lounged on sidewalks as protesters removed the barriers on a road leading to the prime minister's office and walked through.
Earlier on Tuesday, police used cranes to remove concrete slabs and barbed wire barricades on a nearby road leading to the police headquarters after agreeing to let the protesters into the building.
On Monday, protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban vowed 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, protesters commandeered rubbish trucks and bulldozers, and tried to ram concrete barriers at the Government House and other key offices.
At least three people were killed and more than 230 injured in the past four days of violence, which capped a week of massive street rallies that drew crowds of more than 100,000 at their peak.
The protests have renewed fears of prolonged instability in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy and come just ahead of the peak holiday tourist season.
Yingluck said she was 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.
Yingluck was elected with an overwhelming majority in 2011, and many observers see the protesters' demand as unreasonable if not outlandish.
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.
The protesters say their goal is to uproot the political machine of Thaksin, who is accused of widespread corruption and abuse of power.
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