Thai protesters rally ahead of PM's policy speech
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Hundreds of protesters rallied against Thailand's new government in central Bangkok on Monday, hours before Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva was due to make his maiden policy speech to parliament.
Red-shirted supporters of Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup in 2006, massed near parliament, which elected Abhisit prime minister two weeks ago.
Many of the protesters slept overnight outside the building, and hundreds more arrived by bus early on Monday.
Protesters carried pictures of Thaksin and others waved placards that read "Abhisit get out, this is a prostitute's government" and "We are ready to protect Thaksin."
A senior member of Abhisit's Democrat Party told Thai television they were negotiating with protesters to allow MPs access to the building, and they would delay the sitting if necessary.
Under the constitution, a new Thai government cannot start work officially until it delivers its policy statement to a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and Senate. Abhisit is due to deliver his speech at 9:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. British time).
The previous government, led by Thaksin's brother-in-law, had to step down after three parties in the ruling coalition were disbanded by the courts, which said they had committed vote fraud in a general election a year ago.
Since that election, pro-Thaksin governments were undermined by a series of court cases and street protests led by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a group that includes members of parliament in Abhisit's Democrat Party.
The PAD-led protests culminated in a week-long blockade of Bangkok's two main airports at the turn of this month, which scared away tourists and looks likely to exacerbate a downturn in the economy.
Damrong, 59, a lawyer who lives near Bangkok, said he was angry there had been no arrests since the airport blockades.
"The Thai people want rule of law. This is not good for the country," he said outside parliament.
In a 50-page policy statement released to members of parliament and the media last week, Abhisit said boosting the economy would be one of his government's top priorities.
Abhisit told Reuters in an interview on Thursday that his government would expand a planned stimulus package to 300 billion baht ($8.6 billion).
The spending will be funded by, among other things, loans from state banks to shore up commodity prices in order to help farmers and a re-allocation of funds from local governments.
New Finance Minister Korn Chatikavanij said on Wednesday the country's export-driven economy would shrink in the fourth quarter and barely grow in 2009. Korn, an Oxford-trained former investment banker, projected 2009 growth at between zero and 2 percent, the worst in a decade.
(Writing by Jeremy Laurence, Editing by Dean Yates)