Thousands of protesters surrounded Bangkok's Government House on Friday seeking the removal of Thailand's embattled caretaker government amid soaring political tensions following the ouster of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. 

The People's Democratic Reform Committee, which has been protesting the government since November, is pushing to replace the caretaker administration with an unelected interim government. 

Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban told those gathered: "We will sleep here tonight, we will eat here." 

The PDRC has been seeking to rid Thai politics of the alleged influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. 

Thaksin is Yingluck's brother and a telecommunications tycoon who was overthrown in a 2006 military coup. He has since lived in self-imposed exile to avoid a corruption conviction. 

"If the speaker is a slave of Thaksin, there will be one treatment; if not, there will be another treatment for them," Thaugsuban said. 

Some 20,000 protesters massed in the capital and split into groups. About 4,000 or 5,000 gathered outside Government House. That is the former prime minister's residence, but Yingluck has already vacated it. 

Lt. Gen. Paradon Patthanathabut, security adviser to the government, told CNN the PDRC had mobilized supporters from the countryside to join the protests in the capital. 

He said smaller groups also gathered at Bangkok television stations and other locations around the city. 

"We are monitoring (the situation) closely," he said, adding that 60,000 security forces were on standby. 

At the Royal Thai Police Club, command center of the temporary security task force, the Center for the Administration for Peace and Order, police used tear gas and water cannon on protesters who attempted to enter the complex, said Paradon. Four people were injured. 
Was the interim government elected?
on Friday seeking the removal of Thailand's embattled caretaker government amid soaring political tensions following the ouster of former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra. 