Thai protesters launch \\\'final fight\\\' to topple govt

BANGKOK, May 9, (agencies):  Police fired water cannon at Thai protesters Friday as they launched a "final fight" to topple a government that is on the ropes after its leader was dismissed.

Thousands of protesters left their main encampment in a park in the city's commercial district as their firebrand leader Suthep Thaugsuban issued a rallying cry for them to establish a parallel government.

 Five people were reported injured at the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order, the government's security command center, where protesters tried to push down barbed wire-topped concrete barriers outside the compound.

Fanning out into several groups they also surrounded a number of free-to-air television stations, claiming to have interrupted broadcasts by authorities, as fears simmered of street clashes between rival political groups.

Police briefly used water cannon to hold off a hardcore group of anti-government protesters led by a Buddhist monk, who were attempting to enter a fortified police club.

"One protester was slightly injured," Paradorn Pattanatabut, a security adviser to the government told AFP.

The city's Erawan Emergency Centre said five people were injured at the police club, without giving details.

The protesters' action adds risk to a highly combustible situation with rival pro-government "Red Shirts" due to mass in the city suburbs on Saturday, as Thailand's political crisis lurches into a dangerous new phase.

At least 25 people have died and hundreds more have been wounded in gun and grenade attacks linked to six months of anti-government protests.