Thai police use tear gas to disperse protesters

 2008-08-29 15:00:03 -

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Thai police have been using tear gas to disperse a crowd of several thousand anti-government protesters who were besieging city police headquarters. Associated Press journalists witnessed police throwing dozens of canisters of gas at the crowd of at least 2,000 people. Protest leaders claimed they had come to demand the surrender of officers who allegedly beat demonstrators earlier in the day.Television station reported that the crowd threw rocks at police and vandalized at least one police car parked nearby.The action came as the right-wing People's Alliance for Democracy sought out confrontations with police in what appeared to be an effort to bait them into violence into order to claim «police brutality» and gain public sympathy.