Thai Police Fire Tear Gas Against Crowd

Thai riot policeshoot tear gas to Anti Government protesters in front of parliament in Bangkok on Tuesday Oct 7.2008.

(Sakchai Lalit/AP Photo)

Police fired tear gas canisters Tuesday at several thousand demonstrators trying to bar lawmakers from Parliament, injuring dozens of them and heating up a political crisis that has gripped the country for six weeks.

Reporters at the scene heard sounds of gunfire, but police Maj. Gen. Viboon Bangthamai said that only tear gas was being used against the crowd in Bangkok.

Forty-six people were injured, including two seriously, said Petpong Kumtonkitjakarn of the Erawan Medical Center.

"One of them lost his leg, another was hit with shrapnel in the chest," he said.

The morning clashes came just hours before Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat, who was sworn in Sept. 25, was scheduled to deliver his government's policy statement to lawmakers.

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Protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy — which is seeking the government's resignation and a major overhaul of the electoral system — have occupied the grounds of the prime minister's office for six weeks. Late Monday, they expanded their protest by marching to Parliament, vowing to block lawmakers from entering the building.

After the morning clashes, thousands of protesters regrouped in front of Parliament where speakers addressed the crowd from a makeshift stage.

"Fight with us in protecting this country! Stay with us here until we have our victory," a speaker told the cheering crowd.

The action by alliance activists came in response to the recent arrests of two of its leaders, and seemed intended to spark a confrontation to revive its flagging movement.

The alliance says Somchai is a proxy for ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006 by military leaders who accused him of corruption and who now resides in exile. Somchai is a brother-in-law of Thaksin.

When protesters originally took over the grounds of Government House on Aug. 26, their intention was to oust then Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej — whom they also accused of being a puppet of Thaksin. They later said they also opposed his successor, Somchai.