Thailand set for chaotic polls after protest bloodshed

A Thai anti-government protester holds a protest placard during a rally at China town in Bangkok on February 1, 2014

Bangkok (AFP) - Polls opened Sunday for tense elections in Thailand with opposition demonstrators preventing voting in parts of the country, a day after a gunfight between rival protesters in Bangkok raised fears of more violence.

The snap poll was called by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra in an unsuccessful attempt to quell rising tensions in the nation, which has seen three months of sometimes bloody rallies aimed at toppling her government.