Tensions flare as Thai protesters target PM's offices

Tensions escalated in the Thai capital on Saturday as opposition protesters tried to force their way into Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's heavily guarded offices and attacked a bus carrying her supporters. Defiant demonstrators seeking to topple Yingluck's embattled administration have besieged major state buildings in Bangkok in the biggest street protests since mass rallies in 2010 left dozens dead in a military crackdown. The protesters -- a mix of royalists, southerners and the urban middle class sometimes numbering in their tens of thousands -- are united by their loathing of ousted former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, Yingluck's older brother. While their numbers have fallen sharply since an estimated crowd of up to 180,000 people joined an opposition rally on November 24, the protesters have increasingly sought out high profile targets.