Thai protesters hit police HQ with projectiles

BANGKOK: Thousands of democracy activists marched on Thailand’s police headquarters in Bangkok on Wednesday, defacing the compound walls with brightly coloured paint, a day after chaotic protests left more than 50 injured.

The kingdom has been rocked by months of protests demanding constitutional reform, the removal of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha and even changes to the untouchable monarchy.

Protesters -- numbering some 20,000 according to an AFP estimate -- packed a major intersection in the heart of Bangkok’s shopping and commercial district, after their leaders vowed to step up the movement.

After daubing anti-royal slogans on walls and the road they marched on the heavily-defended national police headquarters -- led by a clown and a parade of giant inflatable rubber ducks.

They were accompanied by a Buddhist monk giving the three-fingered salute borrowed from the "Hunger Games" movies that has become emblematic of the youth-led protest movement.

Some protesters threw glass bottles and paint bombs over the walls of police HQ, which was barricaded with dumper trucks, concrete blocks and razor wire.

Others hurled paint at the outside walls, leaving them plastered with bright yellows and blues, while others used water pistols to squirt paint into the compound.

Fearing trouble, many protesters came equipped with helmets, goggles and gas masks, but after the impromptu paint job, they dispersed peacefully around 8:30 pm (1330 GMT).

Prominent protest leader Jatupat Boonpattarasaksa called a new rally on November 25 outside the Crown Property Bureau, which manages the hugely wealthy monarchy’s estates.

More than 50 people were injured, six of them with gunshot wounds, according to medical officials, though it is not clear who was responsible for the shooting.