Thai PM rejects calls for resignation

The Thai prime minister rejected calls for his resignation by thousands of anti-government protesters who ringed his office for a second day in a boisterous rally.

Supporters of former leader Thaksin Shinawatra have surrounded the government’s main office in Bangkok since yesterday.

The demonstrators said Mr Abhisit Vejjavija’s government came to power through illegal means and are demanding a dissolution of Parliament and fresh elections.

Police estimated about 30,000 people gathered outside Government House yesterday evening.

About 3,000 demonstrators remained on the streets around the seat of government today. Most protesters gathered in front of the stage outside the compound, listening to leaders denounce the government.

The protest is the latest episode in Thailand’s protracted political turmoil which last year saw months of protests by Mr Thaksin’s opponents.

Mr Abhisit, whose government has been in power for three months, said he does not expect the protests to turn violent. Other demonstrations against the current government have been generally peaceful.

“Whether to resign or not resign is a political matter within the system,” Mr Abhisit told reporters this morning at his Democrat Party’s headquarters. “Right now, the situation remains normal.”

Mr Abhisit went later in the morning to Parliament. It was not clear if he would try to enter Government House later in the day.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thuaksuban said security officials will assess the situation before Mr Abhisit and his Cabinet members enter the compound.

“We do not want to provoke anyone and we do not want to cause any damage,” Mr Suthep said.

Mr Thaksin’s supporters are using the same people-power method as their rivals, who last year besieged the Government House for three months and occupied Bangkok’s two main airports for one week.

The “red-shirts”, as the pro-Thaksin supporters are commonly known because of their favoured colour, have vowed to remain outside Government House at least through the weekend. But they said they would not break into the compound as their rivals did.

“We will protest until the illegitimate government is gone. We have to stop them from causing more damage to Thai democracy,” a protest leader, Nattawut Sai-kua, told the cheering crowd today. “We will stay for as long as we need to get the job done.”

Mr Abhisit was voted by Parliament to be the country’s prime minister in December after a court dissolved the party leading the previous government, which was packed with Mr Thaksin’s allies.

Protesters say the court decisions, which removed two previous pro-Thaksin administrations last year, were political and biased against the former leader’s allies.

Mr Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption and abuse of power but he retained popularity among the country’s poor rural majority.