Red Shirts to splash blood at Thai PM's house today

United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leaders said they planned to march to Mr Abhisit's residence on Sukhumvit Soi 31. The premier has been sleeping at an army headquarters and taking trips out of the city since the demonstrations began.

When reporters asked UDD leader Veera Musikapong what their next move would be, he replied, "I want to know that myself." He said the group set up a strategy on a day-by-day basis.

Thousands of Red Shirts had their blood drawn by nurses on Tuesday to spill at the Government House. Protest leaders claimed to have collected 300,000 cubic centimeters.

A Brahmin priest began the symbolic spilling by invoking a curse against the Abhisit government.

Minutes after blood was poured on the gates of the compound, a government medical cleanup team in white coats, face masks and rubber gloves hosed down the site. Health authorities had warned that the demonstrators risked spreading disease if splashed by infected blood.

The red-shirted protesters later moved to the headquarters of the Democratic Party and performed the same ritual there.

“If they want to go to the prime minister’s house, we’ll try to interest them not to go, but if they want to go they have their right to do that,” government spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said. “Just allow us to coordinate the traffic to make sure they are safe.”