Thai protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban
has vowed to escalate his campaign to topple the country’s government.

Attempts by his followers on Monday to storm Bangkok’s police headquarters were thwarted but Suthep said the assault would resume on Tuesday.

He remains defiant despite the issue of a warrant for his arrest on charges of insurrection.

“I will probably be imprisoned,” he told a rally of anti-government protesters. “ But I, Suthep Thaugsuban, will never run away like their boss [Thaksin] who ran away overseas from a prison sentence.”

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has called for talks with the opposition but stressed she will not hand over power to an unelected council as demanded by Suthep.

The political crisis is Thailand’s worst since the bloody unrest in 2010. Government critics claim Yingluck is a puppet of her brother Thaksin who was ousted in a coup..

Both sides are becoming increasingly polarised as the unrest which is concentrated near government buildings, intensifies.