Thai police yield to protesters ahead of king's birthday

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Several days of street battles gave way to hugs and smiles after police said they would no longer use force against protesters trying to storm Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's offices as well as the city police headquarters. Thai police has abandoned their defence.

The sudden change in tactics, after violent clashes between stone-throwing mobs and police firing tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets, came as the nation prepares on Thursday to celebrate King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 86th birthday.

"There's a mutual understanding that everything must be calm and orderly on this auspicious day," National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattanatabut told AFP.

The protests, aimed at unseating Yingluck's government and replacing it with an unelected "people's council", are the latest bout of unrest in the kingdom since royalist generals ousted the premier's brother Thaksin Shinawatra in a coup seven years ago.

Four people have been killed and about 250 wounded in the street violence since Saturday, according to the city's Erawan emergency centre.

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy premier, told supporters the fight to unseat the government was not over, in comments that suggested tensions could flare anew after the king's birthday.

"It's a partial victory but it's not final because the Thaksin regime is still in place. You cannot go back home yet. We have to continue our struggle," said the former deputy premier, who faces an arrest warrant for insurrection.