Thai opposition protesters vow to prevent election

Anti-government protesters determined to unseat Thailand's prime minister surrounded a Bangkok sports stadium on Monday in an unsuccessful attempt to block political parties from registering for February elections.

"We were aware that protesters would be blocking all entrances, so we went into the stadium at 4 a.m. while they were sleeping," said Prompong Nopparit, spokesman of the ruling Pheu Thai party. "Despite all this, the elections will continue as planned on Feb. 2."

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who is popular among the rural majority but disliked by the urban middle class and elite, called the Feb. 2 elections in an attempt to defuse tensions after several weeks of sometimes violent demonstrations in the Thai capital.

Jousting between the two sides also took place Monday in the lobby of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), an agency similar to the FBI. The department’s building was occupied by protesters for the second time in several weeks.

The move was an apparent response to a DSI order freezing the assets of protest leaders and exploring criminal charges against them.

The attempted blockade comes after the main opposition Democrat Party said over the weekend it will boycott the vote, which Yingluck's ruling party would likely win.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has mobilized large crowds in Bangkok in the past few weeks, including more than 150,000 people Sunday in a march that blocked traffic and shut down major intersections around the capital.

Suthep's party estimated that 3.5 million people were on the Bangkok streets Sunday, but security agencies estimated 270,000 protesters in the rallies, according to the Bangkok Post newspaper.

In a fiery speech Sunday night, Suthep promised to continue mass rallies and blockades until they achieve their goal.

"Because Yingluck clings to her prime minister's seat, we must come out to chase her," Suthep told supporters. "We will keep chasing her until she is dead or until she leaves."

He declared that if the election still goes ahead on Feb. 2, "We will shut down the entire country and no one will vote." With registration continuing for two weeks, the protesters have vowed to continue their blockade.

More than two dozen other parties were able to begin the registration process at a nearby police station, where they filed complaints saying they were unable to access the main venue because of the blockade, the commission said.

All parties that lodged complaints with police Monday morning would be viewed as having applied at the same time as the successful nine parties, Commissioner Somchai Srisuthiyakorn, in charge of election administration, said Monday.

Hundreds of protesters tried to seal off the police station as well, and then attempted to block representatives of several political parties from leaving.

Somchai said the registration venue would not be changed, but indicated it could be moved if protesters continued obstructing political parties from entering.

The mostly city-dwelling demonstrators say Yingluck's removal is necessary to purge the country of corruption and money politics. The protesters want an unelected "people's council" to oversee political and electoral reforms before any new polls are held.

They view Yingluck as a puppet of her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and is living in self-imposed exile overseas after being convicted of corruption.

But the Shinawatras have the support of Thailand's upwardly mobile rural poor, largely because of Thaksin's policies of bringing virtually free health care, cheap loans – which critics accuse him of personally profiting from –and other benefits to the long-neglected countryside.

Yingluck has spent the past several days in Thailand's north and northeast, her party's political strongholds, surrounded by crowds of enthusiastic supporters.

Her government says the opposition's boycott shows it is afraid of losing. Thaksin and his allies have won every national election since 2001.

Al Jazeera and wire services