BANGKOK:

Thousands of demonstrators massed outside Thai government ministries, a major state office complex and 24 provincial halls yesterday in an effort to cripple the administration and oust Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

More than 13,000 protesters surrounded Thailand's top crime-fighting agency and an adjacent government complex.

The protesters accuse Ms Yingluck of being an illegitimate proxy for her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup.