Pro-democracy march in Bangkok: Live updates

Protesters outside Thammasat's Tha Phra Chan campus are blocked by police from marching to the Government House in Bangkok on Tuesday morning.

Live updates from the pro-democracy march from Thammasat University's Tha Phra Chan campus to the Government House in Bangkok.

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3.30pm: The protest leaders are driven away, but a senior police officer interviewed by the media refuses to say where. There is speculation that it is Phaya Thai police station, but others suspect it may be to a military camp.

3.20pm: Protester leaders give three-fingered salutes before being led to police vehicles. Police on loudspeakers ask protesters to go home.

3.17pm: Prior to being taken away by police, Nuttaa 'Bow' Mahattana is allowed to use the loudspeaker, saying the protesters' actions have been called a threat to national security. She reads a prepared statement from her smartphone condemning the NCPO and issuing five demands.

3.05pm: Several demonstrators are arrested, including Nuttaa 'Bow' Mahattana. Some of the remaining protesters get up from the road and walk away.

3.01pm: Police encircle the protest leaders sitting on the ground. Police tell one of the female protesters to sit down. Police officers force journalists away from the scene.

3pm: Police move in to arrest the protest leaders. Pushing, screaming, scuffles.

2.55pm: Nuttaa “Bow” Mahattana joins the protesters on Ratchadamnoen Avenue.

2.48pm: Police give protesters 15 minutes to disperse. Groups of protesters sit down on the road; one protester says they will not resist if they are arrested, but they are exercising their consitutional rights, and plan to do so until 6pm.

At about 2.15pm, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said gunmen were planning to ambush demonstrators on their way to Government House in order to provoke a crisis; he said the plan was foiled because demonstrators were kept at their location.

2.40pm: Police shoo the media back, trying to clear the area, saying over loudspeakers that "If you want to visit government leaders, this isn't the way to do it." The police tell the media not to take photos of special branch officers negotiating with protesters, since they are normally in plain clothes.

2.38pm: Speaking to a cluster of media microphones, a senior police officer says protesters have been breaking the law since last night. He said protest leaders would face additional charges. 'Now, let me work!' he says, apparently intending to negotiate with protest leaders.

2.30pm: Following another police warning that demonstrators face arrest for participating in an unauthorised political gathering of five or more people, things go quiet. The protesters, too, have stopped chanting. The march has halted and people appear to be waiting for a new development.

2.25pm: Border patrol police link arms to form a human chain. Police on loudspeakers say the protesters are causing a traffic jam - although unusually for Bangkok, traffic appears light. Police then shift their tone from threats and demands to pleas, saying 'We're all Thais.'

2.23pm: Police use loudspeakers to tell protesters they are disturbing nearby residents and disupting public order. They should go home or return to Thammasat University. If they breach the restricted zone within a radius of 50m of the Government House, they will be arrested, bark the police.

2.18pm: The police barricade ahead is close to a United Nations office, slightly less than 1km from the Government House. The United Nations and Human Rights Watch have both sent observers to monitor today's protests.

2.15pm: What appears to be a police barricade is sighted some distance in front of the marchers. The marchers pass the Royal Thai Army headquarters. Back at Thammasat University, protest leader Rangsiman Rome is reported to be negotiating with police about whether the protesters there can join the others on Ratchadamnoen Avenue.

2.10pm Police using loudhailers ask protesters on Ratchadamnoen Avenue to occupy a single traffic lane, and warn that any causing a disturbance at the Government House will be arrested. Protesters believe the approximately 100-strong group is being monitored and recorded by security agencies, and those identified as key members will be 'visited' by authorities later.

2.05pm: Marchers are proceeding along Ratchadamnoen Avenue, shouting "Prayut, get out" and "Long live democracy." Police are present, but there are no visible police barricades, and there is speculation the police have decided not to further block the relatively small number of protesters on the march. They're currently about 20 minutes' walk from the Government House.

1.45pm: Protest leader Rangsiman Rome reportedly says the protest may continue tonight, and a decision will be made later this afternoon.

1.30pm: Deputy Police Commissioner Gen Srivara Ransibrahmanakul reportedly says protesters will also be prevented from marching to Democracy Monument, warning them to stay inside the university grounds.

1.10pm: As rain falls, pro-election demonstrators retreat from police barricades to tents inside Thammasat University; leaders say they'll announce the next move in the afternoon. A second group of demonstrators is on a section of Ratchadamnoen Avenue, along the planned route to the Government House.

12.05pm: The tense atmosphere seems to have abated, with some protesters singing songs.

11.40am: Protest leader Sirawith “Ja New” Seritiwat is reported to have fainted briefly, apparently from exhaustion and exposure to the sun.

Police spokesman Krissana Phathancharoen reportedly says that five of the protest leaders face new charges of violating public assembly laws. The five leaders are Rangsiman Rome, Sirawith “Ja New” Seritiwat, Nuttaa “Bow” Mahattana, Ekachai Hongkangwan and Piyarat Jongthep.

10am:: A protester is taken to a hospital in an ambulance. Police were reported to have initially blocked the ambulance from reaching the scene.

9.30am: Police and protesters engage in a loudspeaker war at the university campus where protesters had camped overnight. The police broadcast warns that gatherings of five or more people for political purposes were prohibited, and protesters and unaccredited journalists faced arrest. Protesters broadcast defiant messages, saying “We are not afraid of you.”