Thousands of “Red Shirts” loyal to deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra queued up during the day to donate blood in makeshift tents, where it was poured from syringes into five-litre water bottles for the bizarre spectacle.

Red leaders said they had collected 300 litres of blood, far short of their aim of 1,000 litres, most of which they poured at the Government House gates in the late afternoon to press their demand for snap elections.

They later took some of the blood to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrat party offices for a second protest, where a Hindu priest began the symbolic spilling by invoking a curse against the government.

It was the latest part of a pro-Thaksin demonstration, which has drawn up to 100,000 protesters to the streets of Bangkok since the weekend, according to police, watched over by a 50,000-strong contingent of security forces.

The Red Shirts, whose numbers appeared to be dwindling on March 17, held the blood bottles in the air triumphantly as they rode on trucks followed by thousands of supporters and monitored by riot police.

They are protesting against the perceived elitism and illegitimacy of the Abhisit government, which came to power via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling ousted Thaksin’s allies.

They began their blood drive on the morning of March 16 despite hygiene concerns raised by health officials. Organisers insisted only qualified medics were collecting donations, using one needle per person.