By TODD PITMAN and JINDA WEDEL
Anti-government protesters gather in the compound of Government House in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. (AP Photo/Sakchai Lalit)
APTOPIX Thailand Politics
An anti-government protester celebrates after opening the gate of Government House in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
APTOPIX Thailand Politics
A Thai policeman salutes to anti-government protesters from inside the Government House building, in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory. (AP Photo /Manish Swarup)
Thailand Politics
An anti-government protester hugs a Thai policeman as others watch them outside city police headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand , Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory. (AP Photo /Manish Swarup)
Thailand Politics
An anti-government protester gives roses to Thai policewomen outside city police headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory. (AP Photo /Manish Swarup)
Thailand Politics
A Thai policeman offers a rose to protesters outside city police headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory. (AP Photo /Manish Swarup)
Thailand Politics
Roses offered by anti-government protesters decorate a Thai policeman’s bulletproof vest outside city police headquarters, in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory. (AP Photo /Manish Swarup)
Thailand Politics
Anti-government protesters wavie Thai national flags as they listen to leaders speaking at Government House in Bangkok, Thailand, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. Hundreds of protesters poured onto the lawn of Government House, waving Thai flags and blowing whistles to celebrate a symbolic victory. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)
Thailand Politics
An anti-Government protester raises his fist after getting into the compound of Government House in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Dec. 3 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. (AP Photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
Thailand Politics
Roses are left in a canon by anti-government protesters in the compound of Government House in Bangkok, Thailand Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013. Anti-government protesters swarmed into the Thai prime minister’s office compound Tuesday as police stood by and watched, allowing them to claim a symbolic victory after three days of bitter clashes. (AP photo/Wason Wanichakorn)
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BANGKOK (AP) — Anti-government protesters plan to march peacefully on the Thai national police headquarters Wednesday, a day after the political crisis that has shaken Thailand’s capital for more than a week eased suddenly when the prime minister ordered police to stop battling anti-government protesters.
The move was timed to coincide with celebrations of the king’s birthday this week, a holiday that holds deep significance in the Southeast Asian nation.
In a sharp reversal in strategy that followed two days of increasingly fierce street fighting, riot police lowered their shields Tuesday and walked away from heavily fortified positions around Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s office at Government House.
Shortly afterward, thousands of jubilant demonstrators waving the red, white and blue Thai flag swarmed across the compound’s grassy lawn, snapping photos of themselves with cellphones and screaming “Victory belongs to the people!” Yingluck was not there at the time.
The government move was widely seen as offering demonstrators a face-saving way out, and the government expressed hope it would defuse a conflict that has killed four people and wounded more than 256 in the last three days alone.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, however, has vowed to keep up what has become an audacious struggle to topple Yingluck and keep her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, from returning to power.
Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup, and Yingluck’s rivals have repeatedly accused her of being his puppet.
“You can rest assured that this is a victory that is only partial … because the tyrannical Thaksin government endures,” Suthep said.
He said that after a Thursday truce, “our battle” will begin again Friday.
The latest unrest in Thailand emanates from a deep societal schism that has plagued the country for nearly a decade. The conflict pits a poor rural majority which largely backs the Shinawatra family against an urban-based elite that opposes it. The latter camp draws support from the army and staunch royalists who see the Shinawatras as a corrupt threat to their business interests and the monarchy.
After seizing several government ministries last week, and smashing barricades with bulldozers and commandeered police trucks in street fighting that erupted this weekend in isolated pockets of the city, the protesters refused all offers to negotiate.
Instead, they demanded Yingluck’s government hand power to an unelected council that would appoint a new premier, a demand Yingluck rejected.
Many political observers and Thai academics see the protesters’ demands as unreasonable, if not absurd. Yingluck’s Pheu Thai party was elected with an overwhelming majority in 2011 and is currently unbeatable at the polls.
The crisis began last month after the ruling party tried to ram an amnesty bill through Parliament that critics said was designed to bring Thaksin back. Thaksin resides in Dubai to avoid serving a jail term for a corruption conviction he says was politically motivated.
The bill failed to pass both legislative houses and protesters, sensing weakness, staged mass rallies that eventually spiraled into serious violence.
On Sunday and Monday, masked demonstrators tried to break through concrete barriers surrounding Government House and other offices in a historic quarter of the capital that is home to some of Bangkok’s main tourist attractions. They fired homemade rocket launchers and petrol bombs at police, who riposted with tear gas, water cannons and rubber bullets.
Early Tuesday, the skirmishes began again. But after a few minutes, police stopped firing back, and disappeared.
Bewildered protesters, who had been fighting just moments before, began climbing over rows of overturned concrete blast walls.
About 20 soldiers and police guarded a door into Yingluck’s offices, and protesters did not try to enter. After an hour of speeches and cheering, they all filed back out systematically, as their leaders had instructed. The organized exit fueled speculation that a deal — at least for now — had been struck behind closed doors between the two sides.
Yingluck and her deputy said the government told police to avoid clashes so people could peacefully celebrate the birthday of ailing King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who turns 86 Thursday.
Bhumibol is a constitutional monarch with no formal political role, but he is considered the country’s moral authority and a unifying figure. Violence on the day of his birth would be a major sign of disrespect.
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Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker, Grant Peck, Papitchaya Boonngok and Raul Gallego Abellan contributed to this report.
