Thai anti-government protest leader shot dead in Bangkok violence-police

Protesters trying to force Thailand's prime minister from office swarmed polling stations in Bangkok on Sunday, chaining doors shut and halting advance voting in nearly all centers ahead of a disputed election next week.

A deputy prime minister said 45 of 50 polling stations in the capital had been closed down and advance voting was disrupted in 10 of Thailand's 76 provinces.

On Saturday, a government minister said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra was prepared to discuss cancelling the February 2 election if activists ended more than two months of often unruly protests. The government said it was ready to delay the vote if its opponents agreed not to boycott or disrupt a rescheduled poll.

Yingluck called the February 2 election in the hope of cementing her hold on power in the face of the disruption.

"Protesters blocked voters. In many areas of Bangkok protesters used force to prevent people from voting," Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul, also a deputy prime minister, said in a televised address.