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Thai anti-government demonstrators broke into the compound housing the prime minister's office, took over a state-controlled television station and besieged several ministries on Tuesday, while the country’s police announced arrest warrants are ready to be issued to five protest leaders. 

Members of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), an anti-government group, took over roads leading to Thai Government House in an attempt to force the resignation of the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and his cabinet.

A PAD leader, Sondhi Limthongkul, said demonstrators would not leave government house until the government accedes to its demands.

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Early Tuesday, demonstrators wearing masks broke through the closed gates and stormed the premises of state-run NBT television station, which is operated under the National Public Relations Departments, halting all programs, while other PAD protesters rallied at several points throughout Bangkok

Pol Maj Gen Surapon Tounthong, the deputy Thai Royal Police spokesperson, said the police were ordered to use restraint and would not use arms or violence against the protesters.

“However, it does not mean that we will do nothing to the protesters who break the law,” he said. ”Arrest warrants are prepared to issue to the protester leaders soon because they illegally entered government offices and other national security areas,” he said, according to a report on a Thai news Web site, Komchadluek, on Tuesday

Meanwhile, Pradit Ruengdit, the secretary-general of Thai Journalists Association, said in a statement released on Tuesday that the protesters who seized the NBT station seriously abused freedom of the press.

The statement noted that PAD leaders claimed NBT is a government mouthpiece and has a bias in reporting political news. “However, there are ways to fight through legal processes,” he said. “To attack and obstruct media from reporting is an abuse of freedom the press.”

The Southeast Asian Press Alliance, the Thai Broadcast Journalists Association (TBJA) and the Confederation of Thai Journalists released a statement saying: "The mob action is one of the gravest and most blatant assaults on media freedom to date. The media was threatened, intimidated and kept from performing their duty."

The masked men who attacked the NBT station claimed they were PAD members.

Other PAD protesters invaded the compounds of the Transport Ministry, Finance Ministry and Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Army chief Anupong Paochinda, meanwhile, repeated claims that the military would not overthrow the government to quell the political unrest.

Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej warned protesters on Tuesday that his government's tolerance for their repeated demonstrations had its limits, but he did not say what, if any, action he would take.

Samak placed Deputy Prime Minister and Interior Minister Pol Gen Kowit Wattana in charge of governmental security and the overall police response.