REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANGKOK -- At least three people were injured Tuesday in Thai police's operation to retake rally sites in the capital Bangkok from protesters.
Two police officers and an anti-government protester were wounded in a clash between the police and protesters at Democracy Monument on Rajdamnoen Road, the
Nation newspaper reported.
Real ammunitions and grenades were reportedly used at the rally site. The police have started to retreat.
In the morning, Thai police launched a "peace for Bangkok" mission to retake rally sites in the capital, where prolonged gathering of protesters has hindered
traffic and work of government functionaries.
It is reported that the police have arrested two core members of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee.
Protesters at the Government House have remained since the morning in a standoff with the police, with concrete walls and barbed wires set up between the two
sides. The police have tried to negotiate with protesters, but no progress has been made yet.
In the morning, a large number of protesters were called from several other sites to reinforce those at the Government House to resist the police.
Thailand's anti-government protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Monday morning led protesters to besiege the Government House to prevent caretaker prime
minister Yingluck Shinawatra from returning to work there.
Chalerm Yoobamrung, caretaker labor minister and chief of the government-run Center for Maintaining Peace and Order, on Sunday said police would be deployed
from Monday to reclaim five protest sites in Bangkok from protesters, including the one near the Government House.