Three protestors and a police officer have been killed in Bangkok after gun battles erupted in the Thai capital.

Police made their most determined effort to date to clear anti-government demonstrators from the streets.

Meanwhile Thailand’s anti-corruption body announced it was filing charges against Prime Minister, Yingluck Shinawatra over a state-sponsored rice subsidy scheme that is near to collapse.

The scheme, which pays farmers above market price, has fueled resentment among Thailand’s middle-classes

The street protests are part of a long-running power struggle which has pitted Thailand’s middle-class and royalists against Yingluck, her billionaire brother and their supporters among Thailand’s rural poor.