Thai police fire tear gas at protesters

2013-12-01 113

ROUGH CUT (NO REPORTER NARRATION)

STORY: Police fired tear gas to contain thousands of protesters swarming government buildings on Sunday (December 1), attempting to shut down the administration of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

One group tried to climb the barriers in front of the Metropolitan Police Deparment while another group challenged road blocks and riot police in front of one of the entry points to Government House, the office of the prime minister.

Thousands more fanned out to other ministries and government facilites seeking the ouster of Yingluck.

The protests are the biggest since red-shirted supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra paralysed Bangkok in April-May 2010 in a period of unrest that ended with a military crackdown in which 91 people, mostly Thaksin supporters, were killed.