THAILAND-POLITICS-PROTEST-COMMODITIES-RICE

Thai farmers battle with soldiers as they protest the government’s repeatedly delayed payments for rice submitted to the pledging scheme at the government’s temporary office in Bangkok on February 17, 2014. Thai opposition demonstrators besieged government offices on February 17, including a compound that has been used as a temporary headquarters by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, in defiance of authorities who have vowed to reclaim key state buildings. AFP PHOTO / PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL (Photo credit should read PORNCHAI KITTIWONGSAKUL/AFP/Getty Images)