An anti-government protester blows a whistle in front of Thai flags during a rally at Bangkok's Democracy Monument on Friday, one day after the embattled Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra survived a no-confidence vote in parliament.
Anti-government protesters blow whistles as they rally at the Department Special Investigation in Bangkok on November 27, 2013. 
Flag-waving
protesters vowing to topple the Thai prime minister took to the streets
of Bangkok for a fourth day Wednesday, declaring they would take over
"every ministry" of the government. Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved the nation's parliament Monday and called for new elections. But the move did little to appease anti-government protesters who remained on the streets by the thousands.
Between 100,000 and
150,000 demonstrators rallied in Bangkok, with protest leaders said
their goal Monday is to storm Shinawatra's office, known as Government
House.
"I don't want our country
and the Thai people to suffer from more losses," Yingluck said in a
televised address. "I have decided to dissolve the house."
A day earlier, Thailand's
main opposition party said its roughly 150 members would resign en
masse from parliament because they could no longer work with the
government.
"This government is no
longer justified to run the country, as this house is no longer
justified. Today we resign to express that stance," opposition party
leader Abhisit Vejjajiva said.
Dissolving parliament and
calling elections appear unlikely to placate protest leader Suthep
Thaugsuban, a former deputy prime minister for the Democrat Party. He
has called for power to be transferred to an unelected "people's
council."
Thaksin's influence
During the weeks of
demonstrations, protesters have occupied various government offices. The
rallies have been mostly peaceful, but clashes between protesters and
government supporters on November 30 left five people dead.
Protesters and police,
who had confronted each other with tear gas and rocks in parts of
Bangkok last week, agreed to a truce Tuesday in a show of respect for
Thailand's revered king, who celebrated his 86th birthday Thursday.
Protest leaders have
said they want to rid Thailand of the influence of former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, the older brother of Yingluck.
That's an ambitious goal
in a country where parties affiliated with Thaksin, who built his
political success on populist policies that appealed to Thailand's rural
heartland, have won every election since 2001.
Thaksin was ousted in a
military coup in 2006 and has spent most of the time since then in exile
overseas. If he returns, he risks a two-year prison sentence on a
corruption conviction, which he says was politically motivated.
The current protests in
Bangkok were prompted by a botched attempt by Yingluck's government to
pass an amnesty bill that would have opened the door for her brother's
return.
That move added fuel for
critics who accuse Yingluck of being nothing more than Thaksin's
puppet, an allegation she has repeatedly denied.
SOURCE:www.cnn.com
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