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Thai protests transform into festivals

Widespread demonstrations have calmed after police allowed protesters to enter key government buildings.

The bomb squad is called in on Tuesday after a grenade was found on a street near Government House. Its pin had been removed, but it failed to detonate.
By Robert Kennedy
Published On 3 Dec 20133 Dec 2013
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Bangkok, Thailand – Anti-government demonstrations that had raged violently for days morphed into a festival-like atmosphere in the Thai capital on Tuesday, after police removed barricades and let the protesters freely enter strategic offices.  

It was a strange turn of events after a night of running street battles left dozens wounded, with burned out vehicles scattered in front of Government House. 

Outside the Metropolitan Police Bureau protesters hugged police officers, shook their hands, and gave them flowers before peacefully dispersing by early afternoon. 

The strange scene juxtaposed the past two days with police firing rubber-coated bullets and tear gas, and dousing demonstrators with chemical-filled water. 

“For two days it was like war,” protester Kanjana Saeiu, 41, from the southern island of Phuket, told Al Jazeera on the trash-covered street. 

“It’s completely different today. It shows how much Thai people love each other. You won’t see a situation like this anywhere else in the world.”

It remains to be seen what will happen next. The demonstrators have demanded that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration resign, but she says she was democratically elected and has no plans to step down. 

Bomb-disposal officers prepare to approach and neutralise a grenade found on street.
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Cases of water and garbage remain after protesters happily departed from Government House.
Demonstrators tie a rope to police barricades and haul them out of the way so traffic could pass.
Jubilant anti-government protesters celebrate after police removed barricades in front of Government House.
Demonstrators mix and mingle with police in a festival-like atmosphere in Bangkok on Tuesday.
Police and protesters work together to remove the graffiti-covered police barricades.
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Street food vendors barbecue pork for hungry protesters and police outside of Government House.
Organisers tell the protesters that the fight against Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra(***)s government is not yet finished.
After days of street battles, officers look relieved that the stand-off is now over.
Many children have been part of the demonstrations that swelled to 100,000 people on the streets more than a week ago.
Demonstrators celebrate after being allowed to enter Government House after days of tension and pitched street battles.
A protesters holds a poster of revered King Bhumibol Adulyedej, whose 86th birthday is on Thursday. Many say the demonstrations will cease, for now, out of respect for the world(***)s longest-serving monarch.


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