Protesters move to shut down Bangkok

12 January 2014 Last updated at 23:43 GMT

Thailand crisis: Protesters move to shut down Bangkok

Anti-government protesters gathered at Bangkok's democracy monument on Sunday

Opposition protestors in Thailand are gathering in the capital Bangkok to try to shut down the city centre.

It is part of their campaign to overthrow the government before snap elections due on 2 February.

The government has deployed 18,000 police and soldiers but the protesters are building barricades and occupying key road junctions.

Election officials have asked the government to delay the election by three months on security grounds.

But a Deputy Prime Minister, Niwatthamrong Boonsongpaisan, told BBC News this was not possible.

Protesters say Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is a proxy for her exiled brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in 2006.

At least seven people were injured when unknown gunmen opened fire on anti-government demonstrators at the main rally site in Bangkok on Saturday.

Army chief Gen Prayuth Chan-Ocha has sought to quell rumours of military intervention, insisting that no-one will mount a coup.

Soldiers are restricted to protecting buildings rather than helping the police confront the protesters.

Schools closing

One of the main protest leaders, former Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, was defiant as he rallied demonstrators.

"I want to announce on this important night that the masses will not accept any proposals or negotiations," he told supporters, as quoted by the Associated Press news agency.

Anti-government protesters are camped out on roads in the capital

"In this fight, defeat is defeat and victory is victory. There is no tie. There's no win-win. There's only win on one side."

Schools are expected to close because of fears for students' safety.

Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan said the government was still trying to negotiate with the protest movement over a possible compromise.

"Prime Minister Yingluck has ordered all police and military personnel to exercise utmost restraint and not to use all kinds of weapons in handling the protesters," the deputy prime minister said.

For most of the past two months the anti-government protest movement has been largely unopposed, except for a few violent confrontations with the police.

But recently there have been several night-time attacks by unidentified men on motorbikes.

Ms Yingluck's Pheu Thai party is considered likely to win next month's election.

But the protesters say her populist policies have created a flawed democracy, and want her government replaced with an unelected "People's Council".

Some believe that the ousted former leader Thaksin Shinawatra - Ms Yingluck's brother - is still controlling events in Thailand through his sister and her government.