After weeks of large anti-government demonstrations in the capital, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra dissolved the nation's parliament Monday and called for new elections.
"I don't want our country and the Thai people to suffer from more losses," Yingluck said in a televised address. "I have decided to dissolve the house."
Her announcement came as protesters began marching toward her office, known as Government House, in the latest effort to put pressure on her administration.
A day earlier, Thailand's main opposition party said its roughly 150 members would resign en masse from parliament because they could no longer work with the government.