Police fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters

A senior government minister in Thailand has resigned after violent clashes between police and protesters. Deputy PM Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said he was stepping down to take responsibility for the clashes, which injured at least 65 people. The unrest came just hours before new Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat delivered his inaugural speech. Police fired teargas to disperse anti-government protesters trying to block the road leading to parliament. The protesters say Mr Somchai and his recently ousted predecessor, Samak Sundaravej, are just proxies for former PM Thaksin Shinawatra. Mr Thaksin, Mr Somchai's brother-in-law, was forced from office in a military coup in 2006. The protesters have been occupying the grounds of government buildings for six weeks, but the demonstration had so far been largely peaceful. They are members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a group that wants to replace the one-man, one-vote system with a system in which some of the representatives are chosen by professions and social groups rather than the general electorate.