Bangkok - An anti-government protest turned bloody Tuesday, claiming at least one dead and about a hundred injured as police confronted followers of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to help legislators first get in and then get out of Parliament.

Riot police early Tuesday scattered thousands of PAD followers who had laid siege to Parliament, firing teargas into the crowd, injuring about 70 people, in order to clear a path for members of the lower and upper houses to hold a session to announce the new government's policy statement.

The teargas assault allowed the legislators into Parliament but failed to disperse the protestors.

Bangkok - Myanmar's army and their allies the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) have launched an offensive against Karen refugees in the border region with Thailand, an aid organization said Tuesday.

Speaking from the border town Mae Sot in northern Thailand, Help Without Frontiers, an Italian-based organization aimed at helping refugees of the long-running Karen insurgency, said several villages have been overrun already.

"The villagers are chased, rice barns and food are sequestered or destroyed, large cornfields are burned as well as several houses in different villages," the NGO said in a statement.

Bangkok - Thai police shot tear gas Monday at thousands of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) who have besieged Parliament to block the government's reading of a policy statement and plans to amend the constitution.

"I call on our followers from all over the country to come to Bangkok to join us," said PAD leader Somsak Kohsaisuk. "The police are using tear gas, bombs and guns on us."

Several PAD followers suffered broken legs, burns and other injuries in the crackdown, Thai TV Channel 3 showed.

Bangkok - Thousands of supporters of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) marched on the Thai Parliament Monday from Government House, which they have held hostage since August 26.

PAD leaders said they would lay siege to parliament to block a new move to amend the constitution, expected to be initiated this week when a new cabinet under recently appointed Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat is scheduled to announce its policies.

The PAD is a loose coalition of groups opposed to the return to power of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted by a military coup on September 19, 2006.

Bangkok - Thai shares lost 6.4 per cent of their value Monday in what was believed to be the steepest fall in Asia as investors pulled money out of regional bourses.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index ended at 551.80, down 38.25 points or 6.4 per cent.

"All markets were down today but Thailand's fell hard because there are also concerns about our political situation," said Mongkol Phuengphaetha, an analyst at Adkinsons Securities.

Bangkok - Apirak Kosayodhin, a deputy leader of the opposition Democrat Party, swept Bangkok's gubernatorial election over the weekend, winning almost half of the votes in the 16- candidate race, according to official results announced Monday.

Apirak, Bangkok governor for the last four years, retained his job in Sunday's gubernatorial election, in which he won 991,018 votes, or 45.93 per cent of the total, the Bangkok Metropolitan Authority (BMA) said.