© AFP/Pornchai KittiwongsakuThai 'protest' (coup) leader Suthep Thaugsuban (center) emerging from more planning meetings with the country's military generals.
Multiple gunshots were heard near the prime minister's offices, where riot police had started to remove protesters and dismantle a makeshift stage. Witnesses said shots were fired by both sides. Police later withdrew.
In another blow for the prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, the state anti-corruption agency accused her on Tuesday of improperly handling an expensive rice subsidy scheme, putting her in jeopardy of being impeached.
The National Anti-Corruption Commission said Yingluck's government proceeded with the scheme despite advice from experts that it was potentially wasteful and prone to corruption. The government has been months late in making payments to farmers for the rice they pledged to sell at above-market prices.
One police officer and three demonstrators were killed amid claims by police that they had come under fire from a rooftop sniper and M-79 grenades - the latest round in a violent anti-government protest that has erupted intermittently since November.
"One policeman has died and 14 police were injured," the Thai national police chief, Adul Saengsingkaew, told Reuters. "The policeman ... died while being sent to hospital. He was shot in the head."
Television pictures showed clouds of teargas and police crouching behind riot shields as officers clashed with protesters near Government House. It was not clear who had fired the teargas and the authorities blamed protesters.
"I can guarantee that teargas was not used by security forces. The forces did not take teargas with them," the National Security Council chief, Paradorn Pattanathabutr, told Reuters. "Protesters are the ones who threw teargas at the security forces."
Live television pictures showed police with shields and batons pushing and jostling with protesters near Government House. One man could be seen bleeding from a head wound.
Security officials said four police officers had been wounded by bomb shrapnel. Police said about 100 protesters had been arrested in an early morning operation to clear demonstrators from another protest site near the energy ministry.
The protesters have been rallying since November, calling for the overthrow of the prime minister, Yingluck Shinawatra, whom they view as a proxy for her elder brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a former premier and telecoms tycoon toppled in a military coup in 2006.
Yingluck has been forced to abandon her offices in Government House by the protesters, who have also blocked major intersections since mid-January.
The government, haunted by memories of a bloody 2010 crackdown by a previous administration that killed dozens of pro-Thaksin "red shirt" activists, has largely tried to avoid confrontation. Tuesday's fatality brought to 12 the number of people killed in sporadic violence between protesters, security forces and government supporters since the demonstrations began. Hundreds more have been hurt.
Comment: Yes, for those with short memories, the 2009/2010 revolution was the actual people's revolution... the current government in Thailand is democratically elected and is actually run by human beings, which is why they're reluctant to shoot at people (although the military's rooftop snipers have no compunction about doing that). These armed 'protesters' want to do away with democracy in Thailand and formally replace it with the Western-controlled military junta.
Demonstrators accuse Thaksin of nepotism and corruption and say he used taxpayers' money for populist subsidies and easy loans that have bought him the loyalty of millions in the populous north and north-east of the country.
Security officials said 15,000 officers were involved in an operation called the Peace for Bangkok Mission to reclaim protest sites around government offices in the centre and north of the capital.
Bluesky TV, the protest movement's TV channel, had earlier shown protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban addressing police lines near Government House. "We are not fighting to get power for ourselves," Suthep said. "The reforms we will set in motion will benefit your children and grandchildren, too. The only enemy of the people is the Thaksin regime."
The labour minister, Chalerm Yoobamrung, who is in charge of the security operation, has said police would reclaim sites near Government House, the interior ministry and a government administration complex in north Bangkok as well as the energy ministry.
"We will not respond with force. We will not give up Government House and the interior ministry," said protest spokesman Akanat Promphan.
Police have made no move against the largest protest sites in the city's main business and shopping districts.
Comment: This 'poor people's protest movement' has its own TV channel and is led by this man:
Does he look like a 'working man of the people' to you?! Thaugsuban has a long history of corrupt and unethical behaviour.
He doesn't want to reform the government in the people's favor: he wants to 'reform' it back to the way things were before his kind lost out in the revolution.
This is not a 'people's revolution': it's a mob backed (and armed) by the military regime and the country's billionaires who detest Thaksin because he actually used his power and wealth to help ordinary Thais.
See also:
Strategy of Tension: Five injured by organized mob armed with guns and bombs trying to prevent election taking place in Thailand
A little history regarding Thailand: who is Abhisit Vejjajiva, the man behind the color revolution?