One person was killed and at least 10 were wounded after violence flared near a Bangkok sports stadium hosting a rally by thousands of supporters of embattled Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, according to hospital staff.
At least five people received gunshot wounds and five others were injured by knives or rocks, officials at the nearby Ramkamhaeng and the Dr Panya General Hospital told Reuters.
This as, anti-government protesters in Thai capital Bangkok placed padlocks on the doors of several state-run offices on Saturday, continuing a week-long campaign to paralyze the administration of prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra.
The opposition-led protesters have urged followers to ratchet up a campaign that has so far included seizing the Finance Ministry, turning off power at police headquarters, and camping out at a sprawling government office complex.
At the Department of Special Investigations (DSI), protesters removed barricades and barbed wire blocking the entrance to the building, and after trying and failing to pick the lock of the front door, placed their own padlock on the door.
The protesters' next targets were the nearby headquarters of two state telecommunications agencies, the Communications Authority of Thailand (CAT) and the Telephone Organisation of Thailand (TOT), where they also placed padlocks on the doors.
Authorities continued their hands-off approach to the protesters in an effort to avoid violence in the country's increasingly tense political conflict.
As part of the government's strategy to avoid confrontation, there was no police presence outside any of the offices, which had only civilian security guards.
Officials at TOT greeted the protesters with peace offerings, handing out drinking water and asking them not to enter the buildings.
Protesters say they will seize key government offices on Sunday, including several ministries and the prime minister's office. They are calling Sunday 'victory day'.
The protesters want to unseat Yingluck, whom they accuse of serving as a proxy for her billionaire brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 military coup and is living overseas to avoid a corruption conviction.
Thaksin is adored by much of the country's rural poor and despised by the educated elite and middle class who accuse him of widespread corruption and other offences.
Protest leaders say their goal is not just to force Yingluck out of office but to rid the country of Thaksin's influence in politics.
A rally planned for later on Saturday in Bangkok by Thaksin's supporters has raised tensions further.
Busloads of supporters from the countryside were coming in to join the event being held inside a stadium.
AP/REUTERS