Revellers yesterday ignored police threats to jail anyone for dirty dancing during Thailand’s Songkran new year festival as bikini clad young women took to the streets.

The annual event - which began as a Buddhist festival - sees mass water fights around the country while millions of tourists converge on major cities for booze-fulled parties.

Government officials desperate to protect the country’s image this year vowed to jail for up to five years anyone dressed or behaving ‘’provocatively’’ or posting the scenes online.

‘’Claiming you don’t know about the law or do not have any illegal intention will not get you out of trouble.’’ tech crime spokesman Colonel Siriwat Deepor said.

Officers said they would patrol the streets and monitor the web. Offenders could face fines of up to 100,000 baht (2,400GBP) as well as jail terms of up to five years.

But despite the strict warnings, thousands of scantily clad young women in bikinis took to the streets in Bangkok yesterday (Sun) afternoon for raunchy water fights.

Footage shows girls twerking, touching their breasts and spraying water guns provocatively while surrounded by tourists on the city’s bustling Sukhumvit Road area.

Hundreds of thousands of tourists watched the ''mass wet t-shirt competition''.

The raunchy scenes are in contrast to the cultural events organised by the government in which people wear tradition silk Thai costumes.

Colonel Siriwat said the attempted crackdown came as previous Songkran festivals often saw inappropriate photos of young women and ladyboys posted online.