The roads were returned to motorists at Lat Phrao intersection and around Victory Monument on Monday as protesters shifted their rally stronghold to Lumpini Park, ending their three-week blockade of the streets.
Protesters leave their campsite at Chatuchak Park as the PDRC dismantles the Lat Phrao and Victory Monument rally stages on Monday, Feb 3, 2014, moving its stronghold to Lumpini Park. (Photo by Pattarachai Prechapanich)
People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) members dismantled the two stages on Monday morning and City Hall workers moved in to finish clearing the areas, which were then opened to traffic for the first time since Jan 13, when the two sites were set up under the protesters' Bangkok shutdown campaign.
Most members joined other demonstrators at Lumpini Park, which there was room for several thousand more of them. Some decided to go to the rally site at the Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road led by Luang Pu Buddha Issara.
Victory Monument reopened for traffic and the roads at Lat Phrao intersection were being cleared for vehicles on Monday afternoon. The intersection was expected to be open for normal traffic by Tuesday morning.
Protesters from the Asok camp rally at a Defence Ministry office in Muang Thong Thani on Monday as caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is holding a cabinet meeting inside. She later left the building for safety reasons. (Photo by Patsara Jikkham)
The decision to bring an end to the Lat Phrao and Victory Monument sites was because of safety concerns, PDRC leader Suthep Thaugsaban said on Monday after leading a march from the two sites to the park.
Both locations were vulnerable to attack and prone to violence,
There have been shootings and bombings, and injuries, at the rally sites. On Sunday night a demonstrator at Lat Phrao was slightly injured by a giant firecracker, the Public Health Ministry reported.
Protest leaders also fretted about being targetted by their opponents after the clashes at Laksi intersection on Saturday with supporters of the red-shirt United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship based in Don Muang district of Bangkok and Pathum Thani province.
The exchange of gunfire at Laksi injured six people, including an elderly man reportely left paralysed by a bullet in his spine.
Some protesters moved to the site controlled by Lung Pu Buddha Issara on Chaeng Wattana Road, the only stage on Bangkok's outskirts, and closer to their homes. He vowed on Monday to stay put, but Tawatchai Thaikiew, a deputy permanent secretary for justice, was again trying to negotiate with him to clear the area so state officials could resume work.
The monk said he was ready to allow Justice Ministry officials to go inside, if demonstrators' safety was assured.
Other protest stages of the PDRC remain at Asok, Pathumwan and Ratchaprasong intersections.
Despite abandoning two protest stages, former Surat Thani MP Suthep promised to continue the campaign to prevent government offices from opening by preventing officials entering the buildings.
Other targets of the protesters include the home of caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and other caretaker cabinet ministers.
''We will not go inside, but we will lock them up in their houses,'' Mr Suthep said.