By Darren Schuettler
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thousands of anti-government protesters blockaded Thailand's parliament on Monday, forcing Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to delay his maiden policy speech as the economy teeters on the brink of recession.
The new government's plan to bolster a struggling export- and tourism-driven economy was now expected early on Tuesday after talks failed to end the latest siege of parliament in Thailand's long-running political crisis.
"The government will not use violence to disperse the protesters. We will continue to negotiate," Abhisit said after his speech was postponed to 9:30 a.m. (2:30 a.m. British time) on Tuesday.
Thailand has seen four prime ministers this year and months of street protests, including a week-long blockade of Bangkok's main airports, which have scared away tourists and shaken the confidence of foreign investors.
With exports plunging due to a weak global economy, Thailand's economy is likely to contract this quarter and may slide into recession in 2009, economists say.
The political impasse, which began three years ago when yellow-shirted protests led by Bangkok's royalist and business elite triggered former leader Thaksin Shinawatra's removal in a 2006 coup, shows no sign of being resolved anytime soon.
Supporters of the exiled telecoms billionaire accuse the Oxford-educated Abhisit of "stealing" power after the military coerced smaller parties to join his coalition two weeks ago, a charge he denies.
The previous government, led by Thaksin's brother-in-law, was forced out after a court disbanded three parties in the coalition found guilty of vote fraud in a December 2007 poll.
DEMAND FOR NEW ELECTIONS
Kokaew Pikulthong, a leader of the pro-Thaksin Democratic Alliance Against Dictatorship (DAAD), vowed to keep up the pressure on Abhisit to call fresh elections.
"We don't accept the process of how this government was formed by the intervention of the military," he told Reuters.
Under the constitution, a new government cannot start work officially until it delivers its policy statement to a joint sitting of the House of Representatives and Senate.
Abhisit said his ministers could not start work on reviving an economy expected to grow between zero and 2 percent in 2009, the worst in a decade, until the speech was delivered.
The protesters had dared Abhisit and his ministers to walk through their ranks into parliament but the government said it was too dangerous.
A similar siege by the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) in October to prevent then Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat from giving his maiden address triggered clashes with police that killed two people and injured hundreds more.
However, Monday's protest was peaceful, with riot police keeping their distance.
As speakers hurled anti-government abuse from a makeshift stage, protesters sat on mats and munched on sticky rice and chicken between shouts of "Abhisit, get out."
Others carried pictures of Thaksin and placards that read "Thaksin We Love You" and "We are ready to protect Thaksin."
Damrong, a red-clad 59-year-old lawyer from outside Bangkok, said he was angry there had been no arrests over the airport seizures, which drove away 2 million tourists during the peak holiday season.
"The Thai people want rule of law. This is not good for the country," he told Reuters outside parliament.
Abhisit has made national reconciliation a priority, but analysts say he is unlikely to make any headway in solving the fundamental rift in Thai society between the Bangkok elite and Thaksin's supporters in the countryside, where voters have burnt effigies of the 44-year-old prime minister.
($1 = 35.04 Baht)
(Additional reporting by Vithoon Amorn and Sinfah Tunsarawuth; Editing by Alan Raybould and Sugita Katyal)