Bangkok: The United Nations closed its main office in Bangkok, dozens of schools closed and many civil servants stayed away from work on Monday as the Thailand capital braced for more violence in a spiralling political crisis.
After a weekend of chaos in pockets of Bangkok, protesters vowed to push ahead with plans to topple Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra by occupying her office compound along with other key government buildings. Police again used tear gas on thousands of protesters on Monday after repeatedly driving them back with similar attacks throughout Sunday.
In an e-mailed statement to its staff, the United Nations' security department said “there could be violence (Monday) on a large scale .. staff should avoid government offices” and other protest locations.
Many of the offices and schools closed on Monday were located near the Government House, in the historic quarter of the capital, where police over the weekend fought off mobs of rock-throwing protesters armed with petrol bombs. At least three people were killed and 103 injured in skirmishes over the weekend.
The protests have renewed fears of prolonged instability in one of Southeast Asia's biggest economies and come just ahead of the peak holiday tourist season.
Protest leaders want to replace Yingluck's popularly elected government, which they say is illegitimate, with an unelected “people's council,” but they have been vague about what that means.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister, has refused to say how such a demand, which has been criticized as undemocratic, could be accepted by a government that was elected with an overwhelming majority.
Suthep met with Yingluck late Sunday in the presence of top military officials even though he has an arrest warrant against him. He later told cheering supporters that he told Yingluck that the only way to end the protests was for her to step down. He said his goal is to topple Yingluck by Wednesday.
