Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday sought royal approval to dissolve the parliament and call fresh elections in a bid to defuse the country's deepening political crisis, as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets of the Thai capital.
A prominent Indian businessman facing deportation from Thailand has said that he will continue to participate in anti-government protests, even as the Thai authorities were considering his case.
Thai protesters threatened to take Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra into "custody" and marched on several state buildings on the second day of a shutdown of Bangkok to force her to resign even as the embattled Premier rejected their demands to quit.
In a double whammy, deposed Thail premier Yingluck Shinawatra was indicted by an anti-graft body over a disastrous rice subsidy scheme and will face impeachment that could see her banned from politics for five years, a day after a court dismissed her from office.
A prominent pro-government leader was on Wednesday shot and injured in northeastern Thailand, fuelling tensions in the deeply divided country as defiant opposition supporters stepped up their protest to oust Premier Yingluck Shinawatra despite emergency rule imposed in the capital.
Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who dissolved parliament and called for a snap poll by February 2, on Tuesday broke down in tears insisting that she will not resign ahead of the elections, as a defiant anti-government leader gave her 24 hours deadline to quit.
Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on Monday rejected opposition's two-day ultimatum to quit, saying she is willing to do "anything" to end spiralling violence but cannot accept the unconstitutional demand to hand over power to an unelected council.
Thousands of Thai anti-government protesters marched through Bangkok on Sunday to demand Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's resignation and garner support for a planned "siege" of the capital to foil snap polls next month.
At least 36 people were injured on Friday when a blast hit an anti-government protest march in Bangkok demanding the ouster of Thai premier Yingluck Shinawatra, raising fears of violence in the run up to the February 2 snap polls.