At least 36 people were injured in a bomb attack during an opposition protest march Friday, in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand.
This may intensify the violence as the protestors have been rallying for weeks in a bid to remove Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra from power.
Shinawatra has faced over two months of street protests demanding her removal from office and installation of an unelected "people's council," reported the Associated Press.
According to the police, the grenade was thrown at protesters marching with their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, near Chulalongkorn University in the city centre, reported Reuters. "When the incident happened and perpetrators threw the explosive, Suthep was 30 meters away," Akanat Promphan, a spokesman for the movement, told Reuters. Suthep was unharmed in the blast.
It is still unclear who was responsible for the blast. "We have received 12 people who were injured in the blast. One person is seriously injured and the other 11 have sustained various types of injuries, some minor," said an official at the Ramathibodi Hospital.
Since the protests began eight people have been killed and hundreds have been injured.
"Yingluck must take responsibility," one of the protest leaders, Satit Wonghnongtaey, said on stage soon after the blast, reported the AP. "This government, Yingluck and Red Shirt thugs are creating violence," he said, referring to a rival pro-Thaksin protest movement whose rallies in 2010 were suppressed in a bloody military crackdown.
However, the government and the Red Shirts said the protestors instigated the violence. "A movement has been set up to create a situation of bomb attacks against leaders' houses and protesters," Deputy Prime Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul told reporters.
The government has urged the police to detain rally leader Suthep, who faces an insurrection charge -- in theory punishable by death -- in connection with the protests.
Protests against Shinawatra began after a failed amnesty bill that would have let her brother Thaksin go free despite being convicted for corruption. He has been accused of controlling the government from Dubai.
Demonstrators said that Shinawatra was ready to quit. However, at a press conference the prime minister said that she would continue to remain in power, reported Reuters. "I think the election will be the answer," Shinawatra told foreign reporters on Friday before the blast, saying that her family was "one of the victims".
"We just do our job. So that is why (an) election will be the only way to clear out our family," she said.
