BANGKOK, Aug. 29 (Xinhua) -- Reinforced Thai police forces early Friday afternoon cleared barricades of anti-government protesters and got control of main accesses to the Government House compound, where protesters continued their rally to demand the step-down of the government led by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

    At least a few hundred police were deployed at each of the five accesses to the Government House compound after they cleared barricades set up and guarded by demonstrators led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to block police to get into the Government House.

    Clashes between protesters and police occurred on Friday morning at the major PAD rally site -- the Makkawan Bridge near the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia an the Pacific (UNESCAP) headquarters, some 200 meters away from one gate of the Government House.

    Some protesters were injured and some seen armed with golf clubs and sticks, when they clashed with riot police with batons and shields, according to footages from both state TV and the PAD-sponsored ASTV station.

    Police seized the central PAD stage at the Bridge, which has served the main rally venue for the PAD supporters since May 25 when they launched the continuous protests in an attempt to topple the Samak government.

    By 1:00 p.m. (0600GMT), all protesters crowded outside each of the five gates of the Government House were almost cleared out of the sites.

    Police trucks and ambulances were also seen on stand-by.

    A major action to reseize the central administration seat, which has been occupied by the PAD protesters since Tuesday, was expected, though earlier a police spokesman insisted that the police would not use force to disperse the protesters inside the Government House compound, and denied initial reports that they shot teargas at the crowd.

    Initial reports by local media said that riot police fired teargas at protesters around Friday noon when trying to breaking through the barricades set up by protesters to block a gate of the Government House.

    The police managed to get into the compound and remove the barricades after a clash with the protesters who tried to stop the police from barriers. Some minor injuries were reported.

    Deputy police spokesman Surapol Thuanthong later said that the police broke into the Government House to impose an injunction of the Civil Court which ordered that PAD protesters to move out of the Government House compound.

    But the PAD remained defiant and continued its rally inside the compound, which thousands of its supporters intruded and seized on Tuesday afternoon.