By Pracha Hariraksapitak
KADLUMKAEW, Thailand (Reuters) - Thai protesters stormed a satellite station on Friday, breaching an army cordon and demanding officials lift censorship of their TV channel in the first major confrontation in a three-day state of emergency.
Police fired tear gas in a failed attempt to disperse the thousands of protesters who climbed over rolls of barbed wire and forced open the gate of the compound, defying an emergency decree and upping the ante in their broader push for fresh elections.
Most of the soldiers pulled back from the compound, leaving the grounds largely in control of the "red shirt" protesters, supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a military coup in 2006.
The protesters had not entered the main building, which houses a satellite uplink facility used to broadcast the red shirts' People Channel. On Thursday, authorities entered the station and seized equipment that took the channel off air, saying it was inciting violence.
"We want our TV back. You cannot shut our eyes and ears," Jatuporn Prompan, a red shirt leader, said from the back of a truck after leading the protesters into compound.
Many investors doubt even a violent impasse will derail a rebound in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy and one of the world's fastest-rebounding emerging markets. Thai stocks are up 76 percent over the past 12 months, Asia's third-best performer.
Foreigners had bought $1.8 billion in Thai stocks from February 22 to Thursday, when they were net sellers by a slight $43 million and the market fell 3.5 percent in thin volume. The market was off 0.35 percent on Friday.
