. >> scott heidler joins me from government house. this is an attempt to diffuse the crisis, but unlikely to diffuse the protesters. >> no, definitely not. it will not end the situation, the political tension. we have seen violent exchanges between the government protesters and law enforcement over the last two weeks. today a lot of people were on the streets. doesn't appear that there will be clashes. but what remains is tension on the political front. these people and the dtens of thousands around me want yingluck shinawatra to step down. she has dissolved parliament but that is not enough. the protesters want the end of a shinawatra involvement - meaning the political party. it will be tens. what we are seeing on the streets will shift to political tension and a focus on that, trying to resolve that. we walked around here carnival-like atmosphere. you can't walk 100 metres without coming past trucks. a lot of people view this as a victory but it's not the ultimate goal. if there's a carnival atmosphere at the moment, there it chang

now to scott heidler at the government complex, the headquarters of the protest leader, and he spoke in the last hour or so. what did he have to say? >> just behind me is where he spoke, suthep thaugsuban. it's a government complex, a sprauling area north of the sea where wayne hay is. they started occupying earlier in the week. there's a large stage with a large lawn and that's where a lot of the speeches, and this one was not there, but in the building behind. the main building. >> that was for security reasons. there's an arrest warrant out for suthep thaugsuban. helicopters dropped leaflets detailing the arrest warrant this morning, so they are concerned about it. you can see the people sitting behind me. in that speech, again within the last hour, he said that this is a victory of thoughts. it's not an overwhelming victory. we were able to achieve what we saw with wayne hay. they were able to get into the metropolitan police headquarters. they were things they said they wanted to do. in the last evening speech he said he wanted to do that. he said the job is not done until the c

first we'll cross to scott heidler in bangkok. the streets of bangkok are much more quieter. >> yes, and the streets are cleaner particularly around the democracy monument. from 9am workers from the city came in and scrubed the streets. this was one of the first rallying of the protesters. it was the amnesty bill movement before. they'd been there for weeks, almost a month. this morning, for the king's birthday they came out and scrubbed the street. there was a protest march to the royal thai headquarters, in the dense shopping area. it closed down part of the main avenues in bangkok for an hour, hour and a half they could get through. we've seen in pattern. they were allowed in. they broke through, just a padlock. wandered around and left and went back out on their trucks. what we see here at democracy monument - people will clean out because they are preparing for the kings birthday celebrations tomorrow. >> and the question of of course is what happens after the king's birthday. is there a sense that the crisis will be resolved

scott heidler has more. >> and just 24 hours it went from rows of riot police to rows of street sleepersprotesters are taking a pause. they said they would stop tuesday morning, they pulled down barricades. today, wednesday, is the day before the king's birthday. it is clean-up day. this is going to be one of the big sites for the king's birthday on thursday. right now the protesters agreed to stop everything, they'll move everyone out of here. and now they are pitching in with the city workers and they are cleaning up the area. >> now, the ukrainian prime minister says he plans to go ahead with the camera meeting, despite a blockade by protesters. hundreds are back on the streets. they vowed to continue their demonstrations. rory chalans is live for us. what is happening? >> a little bit of a stalemate had set in. the government survived a no confidence vote. the protesters are digging in. they say they could be here for the long hall. i'll give you a sense of what it's like. the ukrainian winter is biting. there's a smell of wood smoke in the air. protesters are huddling around. oil dr

. >> scott heidler has the latest from bangkok. >> a distinct wind shift in the anti-government protest. for the first time in seven days police in bangkok are fighting back. heavy use of tear gas as they faced off with protesters at the metropolitan police headquarters. several thousands protesters crowded the streets. back and forth, they were soaked with chemical laden water. >> at the same time a similar scene unfolded near the prime minister's office. earlier in the day protest leaders gave a short speech rallying his followers. his voice showed signs of fatigue. >> this is a group of protesters that's been dispatched. it's a main staging area. they have three destinations, minister of commerce and two television stations. >> thousands marched to the ministry of foreign affairs. the protest leader was back on stage, defiant, despite the violence and called for a nationwide strike. >> sunday was called victory day by organizers before the protesters hit the streets. >> by surrounding government compounds and encouraging civil servants to stand alongside people. if we sever the ties

. >> okay our scott heidler?ive in bangkok, thank you. >>> now we look at the african future, that african national party is facing serious problems. tabo umbeke succeeded mandela, yet he faced serious objection for not doing enough for fighting hiv. he has been charged with rape, racket eager and corruption but he has been cleared of those charges. his party seemed to crack from within. strike mine workers, killing dozens, it was the single most brutal operation since apartheid. the party was once the party of the people. mike hannah in johannesburg. >> in the void left by nelson mandela's death an awareness of challenges to come. the growing gap between rich and poor is the most brutal reminder that mandela's promise of a better life is still to be realized. >> i think challenge we have doesn't necessarily need mandela. it needs us in south africa to face the reality that if we don't do something very logical, the young are going to revolt. the if the rich become richer and the poor become poorer then the young

now you have seen the pictures from scott heidler's package. that is happening in several places. what processes have done is took over several tv stations, demanding that they link up broadcasts to a democrat party, the opposition party. what happened was those stations broadcast live a press conference by the top protest leaders. they are clearly not backing down. >> florence can you tell us about the prime minister's brother. we know that he fled to avoid corruption charges. did he have anything to do with the current prime minister? it's definitely the latter. he has everything to do with this. the protest started because of opposition to an amnesty bill which the government was trying to push through. that would have allowed ut prime minister's brother thaksin shinawatra, a former prime minister and living in exile. it would have relied him to return home for corruption, conviction which he maintained was politically motivated. the senate dropped the bill, but by then he was angered. they say she is a puppet to do his bidding. they control businesses, they are rich. if this f