Bangkok: Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra returned to her office Wednesday after five days away but her effort to show that normalcy was returning to Thailand after days of violent protests was upstaged by another rowdy rally at the national police headquarters.
Street fighting that had wracked pockets of Bangkok since the weekend abruptly ended Tuesday before the nation celebrates revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 86th birthday Thursday.
Tensions are running high, though, because protesters have vowed to continue their “battle” after the holiday.
Although they pledged to march peacefully Wednesday, demonstrators knocked over concrete barriers, cut barbed wire and tried to scale the fences at the police compound in central Bangkok, which is across from some of the capital's biggest and fanciest shopping malls.
The commotion didn't last long. Police opened the gates to let the group of a few hundred protesters inside, and after claiming a symbolic victory the protesters filed out peacefully.
