After resisting the protesters with tear gas and rubber bullets since Saturday, police lounged on sidewalks Tuesday as protesters removed the barriers on a road leading to the prime minister's office and walked through.
Earlier Tuesday, police used cranes to remove concrete slabs and barbed wire barricades on a nearby road leading to the police headquarters after agreeing to let the protesters into the building.
Monday marked some of the worst clashes since the daily protests began last week. Protesters commandeered garbage trucks and bulldozers, and tried to ram concrete barriers at Government House and other offices.
Police repelled them by firing tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets, as protesters shot back explosives from homemade rocket launchers.
The three days of violence occurred mostly near Government House, Parliament and the Metropolitan Police Bureau in the historic quarter of the capital.
The area has some of Bangkok's main tourist attractions such as the Grand Palace, Wat Pho temple and the backpacker area of Khao San Road. Most of Bangkok, a city of 10 million, was unaffected by the clashes.
Yingluck told a news conference Monday that she was willing to do anything it takes to end the violent protests, but that the constitution did not allow her to accept Suthep's demand that she hand power to an unelected council.
She was elected with an overwhelming majority in 2011, and many observers see the protesters' demand as unreasonable if not outlandish.
Political instability has plagued Thailand since the military ousted Thaksin, who remains hugely popular among rural voters, in 2006.
Two years later, anti-Thaksin protesters occupied Bangkok's two airports for a week after taking over the prime minister's office for three months, and in 2010 pro-Thaksin protesters occupied downtown Bangkok for weeks in a standoff that ended with parts of the city in flames and more than 90 dead.
Updated on: December 03, 2013 16:18 IST
