Protesters in Thailand have surrounded polling stations, blocking early voting ahead of next week's general election, officials say.
Anti-government protesters gather outside a polling station in a bid to prevent people from voting in Narathiwat, southern Thailand. Photo: AFP
One of their leaders has been shot dead during a clash with government supporters just outside the capital, Bangkok.
Advance voting has reportedly been cancelled in a number of locations.
The BBC's Bangkok correspondent reports Suthin Taratin was speaking on top of a truck, which was part of a rally at a polling station where advanced voting was supposed to take place, when he was struck by gunfire. He died later in hospital.
Crowds of flag-waving demonstrators chained the doors of polling stations shut, despite promises by protest leaders not to obstruct the polls.
The protesters surrounded polling stations in Bangkok and southern Thailand in an attempt to stop people voting.
Voting was either blocked completely or halted at 48 out of 50 polling stations in Bangkok.
Protesters want the prime minister to step down and the political system to be reformed. But the government says the election will go ahead on schedule, despite a Constitutional Court ruling that it can be delayed.
A state of emergency is in place as the authorities struggle to cope with the unrest.
Protesters, who started their campaign in November, want to install an unelected "people's council" to run the country until the political system is changed.
They say Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra's government is being influenced by her brother, exiled former leader Thaksin Shinawatra.
At least nine people have died since the wave of protests started last year.
