Thai protestors expand demonstrations

Thousands of defiant anti-government demonstrators have fanned out to other parts of Thailand's capital today, ignoring police orders to end their occupation of Bangkok's paralysed commercial district.

Their major target was the Election Commission, where columns of "Red Shirts" threatened to storm the building unless the commission chief met them for talks.

The protesters, mostly farmers from impoverished provincial areas, have sworn not to let up their pressure until the government of prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva steps down and new elections are called.

Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader, said on Sunday night that the demonstrators would maintain bases within both Bangkok's commercial heart and the separate historic quarter of the city - where they began to encamp March 12 - but also branch out to other locations.

He also issued a threat to big businesses, saying they would be "in big trouble" if they did not sever their connections to the government.

The weekend protests forced the closure of at least six shopping centres and saw tough security measures brought in at nearby five-star hotels.

Economic losses are estimated at up to $15m (€16.95m) a day. Doors of the shopping centres as well as many offices and banks in the area remained closed today.

On Sunday, the government said a court would issue an eviction order, which the protesters planned to defy.

"It doesn't matter if there is a court order or not. We're marching on regardless," another protest leader, Nattawut Saikua, told followers. He said another line of leaders was already prepared to take over the movement if he and others in the current Red Shirt leadership were arrested.

PM Abhisit has repeatedly refused demands of the Red Shirts that he immediately dissolve parliament and call new elections, despite protracted protests in the capital and unsuccessful negotiations last week.

Army spokesman Col Sansern Kawekamnerd yesterday warned the Red Shirts not to enter other nearby business or residential areas, and said the government has barred them from 11 major roads in the capital.

The PM said the protesters have violated the constitution, but so far the government has refrained from using force against them despite pressure from segments of the Bangkok population fed up by business losses and disruption to daily life.

In an impassioned speech this morning, Jatuporn warned major businesses like the Bangkok Bank and Charoen Pokphand Group, a giant agribusiness enterprise, and attacked the head of the king's advisory council, Prem Tinsulanonda.

"If Charoen Pokphand wants to side with the government, then we shall see how long it can survive without Red Shirt customers," he said. "Imagine if all the Red Shirts decide to withdraw their money from Bangkok Bank."

The Red Shirt movement - known formally as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship - consists largely of supporters of ex-PM Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists who opposed a 2006 military coup that ousted him on corruption allegations.

The protesters claim Prem, a one-time prime minister and head of King Bhumibol Adulyadej's Privy Council, was instrumental in the coup and continues to pull political strings.

Jatuporn said big businesses, the prime minister and the judicial system were all "remote-controlled" by Prem.

Protest leaders have portrayed the demonstrations as a struggle between Thailand's impoverished, mainly rural masses - who benefited from Thaksin policies of cheap healthcare and low-interest village loans - and a Bangkok-based elite impervious to their plight.

Thaksin's allies won elections in December 2007 to restore democracy, but two resulting governments were forced out by court rulings. A parliamentary vote brought Abhisit's party to power in December 2008.

The Red Shirts say his rule is undemocratic and that only new elections can restore integrity to Thai democracy.

Later all the protesters - inside and outside the Electoral Commission building - left the area after a compromise was reached.