Thailand crisis: Protesters launch Bangkok 'shutdown'

Protesters are blocking roads in parts of the Thai capital, Bangkok, in a bid to oust the government before snap elections on 2 February.

The protesters have built barricades and occupied key road junctions, and want to replace the government with
an unelected "People's Council".

The government has deployed 18,000 security personnel to maintain order.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has offered to meet protest leaders to discuss potentially delaying the polls.

Protesters allege Ms Yingluck is a proxy for her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was
ousted by the military in 2006 and is currently in self-imposed exile.

Thaksin-allied parties draw considerable support from rural
voters and have won the last four elections.

But the protesters claim the Thaksin-allied parties' populist policies have created a flawed democracy. The main opposition party is now boycotting the 2 February polls.

Anti-government demonstrators have called on Ms Yingluck - who has urged protesters to respect the democratic process and use the February elections to choose the next government - to step down.

Thailand's election commission has called for the vote to be postponed to May.

But this is unlikely to satisfy the protesters, who want the Shinawatra family to be purged from politics, and a two-year period without elections in which an appointed committee would reform Thailand's political system, the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok reports.

At least eight people have been killed since the protests began late last year. On Saturday, at least seven people were injured when unknown gunmen opened fire on demonstrators at the main rally site in Bangkok.

On Sunday night, an unidentified gunman attacked demonstrators at a protest site, shooting at least one
man, officials said.

Police said a gunman also fired shots at the opposition party headquarters in a separate incident, although no
casualties were reported.

'People's revolution'

Thousands are reported to have turned out for Monday's demonstrations. Protesters say they intend to achieve what they are calling a shutdown of the capital.

Protester Darunee Suredechakul told AP news agency: "The government has to go. Reforms must be carried out."

"We don't want to see the same old corrupted politicians returning to power over and over again," she added.
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