Protesters pulls plug on police HQ, surrounds gov't offices

BANGKOK, Nov 24 (TNA) - Anti-government protesters 'pulled the plug' for all electrical power into Thailand's police headquarters Monday morning, but said they would not attempt to enter the compound which includes Metropolitan Police Headquarters. The protesters say their protest is a call for justice for the democracy activist protesters who were killed by the police in the Oct 7 Bangkok street clashes, when the police used tear gas to disperse the crowd outside parliament. Two people were killed and hundreds injured in the violence. Cutting off electricity and access to many police and government offices is to pressure Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to resign, as the protesters say he is simply a front for the interests of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, but Mr. Somchai, in Peru, insisted he would not resign. According to the report, the PAD also cut electricity to Parliament building and the Ministry of Finance. Peoples' Alliance for Democracy (PAD) demonstrators have surrounded Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, and the Metropolitan Police Bureau in their mass protest billed as the final push and 'the last battle' to oust the prime minister. "We came in through democratic elections, so I am not thinking of resigning at all. I will exercise restraint to the utmost. We have to talk and try for reconciliation," he said in an interview with Reuters in Lima, speaking from after a session of the Pacific Rim economic summit. Mr. Somchai spoke from Lima as thousands of anti-government protesters invested Parliament, the Ministry of Finance, and the Metropolitan Police Bureau. The beleaguered Thai prime minister, mild-mannered and apparently unflustered, said he need not rush to return before completing his APEC mission as he believed the agencies concerned could keep the situation under control. Meanwhile, the PAD supporters still occupies Government House, its stronghold for three months, which is protected by its guards.