Riot police managed to clear anti-government protesters from a major boulevard in the Thailand capital in a small but brief victory as authorities try to reclaim areas that have been closed during a three-month push to unseat Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
Faced with the prospect of clashing with militant protesters coming from other sites to reclaim the area, police later withdrew, allowing demonstrators to occupy the street again. By evening, tents were re-erected in the area. Police also retreated from another protest venue after hundreds of demonstrators refused to leave.
The police action was the first major pushback against the demonstrators in three months. Police moved in as the total number of full-time protesters dwindled sharply to about 5,000 from more than 1,50,000 late last year, according to police estimates.
“The prime minister asked us to deal with the protesters gently,” said Chalerm Yubumrung, the head of the government’s special command centre to oversee security. He called Friday’s operation “an example” of what authorities plan to do at other protest sites.
“We are telling the protesters to go home. If they do not listen, we will push more,” he told reporters at a news conference held inside Government House.
The protesters are demanding that Ms. Yingluck’s administration be replaced by a non—elected “people’s council,” which would implement reforms they say are needed to end corruption and money politics. They have battled police on several occasions, and have been targeted in several attacks for which no one has been apprehended.
