Thailand's protesters continue rallying, casualties increase

BANGKOK, February 19 (TNA) - Thailand's anti-government protesters have continued their rallies against the caretaker government despite a fresh clash at Phan Fa Bridge near the Democracy Monument in Bangkok on Tuesday, raising the number of casualties relating to domestic political protests to reach over 700 since last October. Suthep Thaugsuban, leader of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), led demonstrators to the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defence in Muang Thong Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok on Wednesday morning to block the work of Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. Authorities blocked demonstrators from entering the office and urged protest leaders to enter into a negotiation. Major General Surachart Jitjaeng, PR chief of the Office of the Defence Minister, told journalists that the caretaker prime minister and her Cabinet members did not show up at the office to prevent negative impacts on local officials and art and trade shows held at nearby exhibition complex. Major General Surachart also informed that road spikes were scattered on Chaeng Watthana Road, where the Office of the Permanent Secretary for Defence is located, apparently to obstruct the operations of authorities, warning the general people and motorists to take precautions. Meanwhile, the death toll from Tuesday's clash between police and anti-government protesters at Phan Fa Bridge has risen to five, while the injured number has stood at 65, all are being treated at many hospitals in Bangkok. The Bangkok Emergency Medical Service Center reported that, since political violence in front of Ramkhamhaeng University in the capital on November 30, 2013, 16 people have been killed and 685 people have been injured, 35 of them remain in hospitals.(TNA)