Thai Red Shirts stage blood protest

Anti-government protesters in Thailand – known as the Red Shirts – have spilled blood on the prime minister’s office in Bangkok in a “sacrifice for democracy” after their demands for new elections were rejected.

The protesters, loyal to Thaksin Shinawatra, the deposed prime minister, drew it from their own veins, but in the end it was nowhere near the amount they had promised.

Riot police allowed protest leaders to pour blood over the gates of the building, which was quickly cleaned up.

Al Jazeera’s Wayne Hay reports from the Thai capital.