BANGKOK, Thailand — Thai anti-government protesters occupying the grounds of the prime minister’s office forced several hundred police officers off the compound early today and promised more action in their bid to oust the leader.
Police exercised restraint when the demonstrators — some armed with golf clubs, batons and bamboo sticks — pushed up to 400 officers out of the Government House grounds about 1 a.m.
Protesters celebrated by dancing, a sharp contrast to the tensions Wednesday when they feared a raid and threw up makeshift barricades.
Thousands of supporters of the conservative People’s Alliance for Democracy spent a third night encamped at Government House in support of their campaign to force Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej from office. They accuse him of serving as a proxy for former Prime Minister Thak sin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and faces several pending corruption cases.
