On Tuesday night, anti-government protest leaders mobilised supporters to gather at the Finance Ministry to protect Suthep Thaugsuban - who resigned as an MP to lead the rallies - after he announced that he had heard police were on their way there to arrest him.
Protesters temporarily seized 18 police vehicles at a petrol station in Sam Sen, mistakenly believing they comprised a task force that was on its way to arrest Suthep.
Hundreds of protesters surrounded the vehicles after they stopped to refuel at a petrol station on Rama VI Road. They blocked the officers from leaving the station and let the air out of the vehicles' tyres.
Pol Lt-Colonel Chaipol Pholyiem, a deputy superintendent at Kaset Wisai Police Station in Roi Et province, explained to the protesters that they were off-duty and on their way to the police station at the Dusit Zoo. The protesters agreed to let them leave.
At around 11pm on Tuesday night, the protesters used cars to close off the expressway exit on Rama VI for fear that police would move to attack the protest. The exit was cleared by yesterday morning.