Anti-government leader Suthep Thaugsuban on Saturday negotiated with soldiers to “hand over” the Santi Maitree building in the compound of Government House to his group.
Mr Suthep, leader of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), held talks with soldiers guarding the Santi Maitree building in the evening. He left Government House at 6.45pm after officers agreed to hand it over to the PDRC to use as its office.
Negotiations began after Mr Suthep and PDRC demonstrators entered Government House without any resistance.
The move into the compound was seen as a display of power to show the PDRC protesters had an edge over the caretaker government.
The Santi Maitree building houses the offices of the prime minister and cabinet ministers.
The PDRC wants to turn Government House into a coordinating centre to form a people’s government after the Constitutional Court ordered Yingluck Shinawatra to step down as prime minister along with nine of her cabinet members over the transfer in 2011 of Thawil Pliensri, the National Security Council secretary-general.
Government House has been surrounded by demonstrators of the PDRC’s ally the Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand (NSPRT) for almost six months, forcing the caretaker government to find other places to work.
Ms Yingluck and the cabinet had to use the offices of the permanent secretary for defence, the Royal Thai Police Office and the Royal Police Cadet Academy in Nakhon Pathum’s Sam Phran district as temporary work places.
Government House was guarded for a time by police before the security task was transferred to soldiers.
PDRC demonstrators gathering at the main rally site at Lumpini Park will soon converge on Ratchadamnoen Avenue and areas around Government House for the last round of the PDRC’s so-called final battle against the Thaksin regime.