DHAKA: Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Monday she would ‘open every door’ to find a peaceful solution to the current political crisis, as thousands of protesters took to the streets of the capital seeking to topple her government.

She told a news conference that police would not use force against the protesters, reports The Straits Times.

But later, the national security chief said rubber bullets were being used as protesters threatened to advance to Yingluck’s office, the focal point of the demonstrations since the weekend.

The violence is the latest twist in a conflict pitting Bangkok’s middle class and royalist elite against the mostly poor, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, Thaksin Shinawatra, a populist former prime minister who was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile.

BDST: 1539 HRS, DEC 02, 2013