An anti-government protester tries to avoid tear gas outside the Parliament compound in Bangkok, Oct. 7, 2008. Chaos resulted from clashes between anti-government protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and police continued Tuesday afternoon in central Bangkok as tear gas were again lobbed, leading to more injuries. (Xinhua Photo)
BANGKOK, Oct. 8 (Xinhua) -- The hope for reconciliation between Thailand's two-week-old new government and its protesters to break the lingering political impasse has suffered a hard blow as police got tough with protesters who extended their besiege of the Government House to the Parliament.
Police fired tear gas a few times since early Tuesday morning into the crowds of protesters led by civilian anti-government coalition People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in an attempt to disperse them, while the other side returned attacks at the police with home-made weapons.
The clashes, at protest and clash scenes-- mainly around the Parliament, the Government House and the Bangkok Metropolitan Police Bureau, has caused at least two deaths and another 381 injured, according to the Erawan Emergency Center of the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration.
Anti-government protesters gather outside the Parliament compound in Bangkok, Oct. 7, 2008. Chaos resulted from clashes between anti-government protesters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and police continued Tuesday afternoon in central Bangkok as tear gas were again lobbed, leading to more injuries. (Xinhua Photo)
The chaos had also brought down Thai Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh who on Tuesday tendered resignation letter to take responsibility for the collapse of negotiation efforts to reach reconciliation between government and protesters.
After appointed Deputy Prime Minister on Sept. 25, Chavalit, a 76-year-old veteran politician and retired general, was earlier tasked by Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat with taking charge of security matters and acting as chief government negotiator with the PAD leaders, who have portrayed themselves as royalists and put the Somchai government and any other "proxies" of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra in the opposite camp.
The efforts, if any, apparently failed, after PAD-organized protesters, who were agitated at arrests of two of PAD leaders over the weekend, clashed with police in front of Parliament and Metropolitan Police Bureau in central Bangkok, when police used tear gas against them in an attempt to disperse them.
Chavalit said he had ordered the police to take decisive measures to break the blockade of protesters around the Parliamentsince Monday evening in attempt to prevent the government policy address being delivered as scheduled.
Situation worsened though he meant for the police to avoid losses on the side of the protesters, his resignation letter said, adding that the resignation took immediate effect.
The embattled premier Somchai, after a cut-short policy address, had to sneak out of the Parliament compound, and transported by helicopter to avoid the protesters. Many MPs had to been stuck inside the Parliament building for hours as protesters blocked the exits and cut off electricity inside the compound.
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Political impasse breaks into chaos in Thai capital with clashes upgrade
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