Anti-govt protestors occupy Thai foreign ministry

Anti-government protesters gather at police barricades near a government building which they chose as a protest site, in Bangkok November 25, 2013. [Photo/Agencies]

BANGKOK -- Hundreds of anti-government protesters occupied the compound of the foreign ministry in the Thai capital of Bangkok on Monday.

Led by the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand, the demonstrators managed to get into the compound of the foreign ministry, less than three kilometers from the Government House, and pressed dozens of policemen deployed inside the compound to leave.

Leading members of the group said the demonstrators will spend the night inside the ministry where government personnel had left since early in the afternoon.

Hours earlier, thousands of anti-government protestors led by former deputy premier Suthep Thaugsuban broke through barricades and police blockade to get into the finance ministry and adjacent Budget Bureau and Public Relations Department and occupied them.

Suthep's followers are also spending the night inside those government premises. The former deputy premier and a leading member of the opposition Democrat Party threatened to occupy the compounds of other government offices on Tuesday.

Other demonstrators remained in tense standoff with policemen at varied spots in the neighborhood of the Government House and parliament where censure debate against Premier Yingluck Shinawatra and Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Policemen, armed with batons and shields, stood guard behind barricades at the gates of the Government House and parliament to keep the protestors at bay.

Suthep said the protests were designed to put an end to " Thaksin's rule" carried out by the lady premier's government, which he said is "being prone to corruption and no longer justified to run the country."

Yingluck has said that she will not step down or dissolve the House of Representatives under pressure from the demonstrators while army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha set up an army operations center inside the First Army Regiment on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road to monitor the development of the protests.