Thai PM vows swift action against summit wreckers

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Sunday that legal action would be taken in the next few days against those responsible for disrupting an Asian summit in Thailand that had to be cancelled.

In a weekly address to the nation, he also said the days immediately ahead would be crucial in restoring order to the country after demonstrations by supporters of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra had tipped over into illegality.

"I insist that over the next three or four days, it is most important for the government to prove it can bring peace to the nation," he said.

"If there are requests for me to resign or dissolve parliament, don't worry, I am prepared to make such decisions. But today, in the current situation, what I have to do is to bring peace to the country, bring back governance and have a process of political reform," he added.

Abhisit suffered a huge political reversal on Saturday when an Asian summit in Thailand he had presented as a sign of the country's return to normality had to be cancelled after red-shirted anti-government protesters broke into the venue.

Asked by Reuters on Saturday if he planned to resign, Abhisit said simply: "We have to restore law and order."

The events will pile more pressure on an economy teetering on the brink of recession, especially if foreign tourists are put off by the scenes of chaos, and emboldened protesters intensify the fight to kick out Abhisit.

"Yesterday was a truly shameful day for our country, which had its international image destroyed by the siege of the ASEAN+6 summit venue in Pattaya and the embarrassing postponement of the forum," the Bangkok Post said in a front-page editorial.

COUP RUMOURS

Thaksin's supporters say Abhisit became premier illegitimately after a parliamentary stitch-up engineered by the army. They demand his resignation and new elections, which Thaksin's allies would be well placed to win.

The "red shirts" were regrouping around his office in Government House, Bangkok, on Sunday. They have surrounded it since late March and stepped up the demonstration last week.

However, the Thai New Year is celebrated from Monday to Wednesday and many people leave the capital to spend the holiday with their families. Numbers at Government House had dwindled before the weekend and it was unclear how many would stay on.

Newspapers were outraged both by the pro-Thaksin supporters' insult to foreign leaders and by the government's inability to put proper security in place. Police and soldiers put up little resistance as the demonstrators marched towards the summit hotel.

"Rumours of a possible coup or House dissolution were spreading last night as it appeared the government had lacked cooperation from police and military in preventing the protesters from entering the summit venue's compound," the Nation reported.

Four prime ministers over the past 15 months have failed to resolve Thailand's deep political rift between the royalist, military and business elite on the one hand, and a rural majority loyal to Thaksin, ousted in a military coup in 2006.

Thaksin, who lives in self-imposed exile to avoid jail on a corruption conviction and is thought to be bankrolling the protests, phoned in to his "red shirts" at Government House late on Saturday.

Less rabble-rousing than on some occasions, he thanked them for their sacrifice at this holiday time and asked them to be patient for a few more days as they were on the point of achieving something.

"If our people in Bangkok and all the provinces unite, ... I think this time we can change the country. We will see real democracy with the king as the head of state," he said.

(Additional reporting by Vithoon Amorn and Viparat Jantraprap; Editing by Jerry Norton)