Thai PM vows to end anti-government protests
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravejsaid on Saturday he would stop anti-government protests thathave ignited fears of a military coup, but a minister latersaid no action would be taken.
"I will not yield to you," Samak said a day after theresignation of a cabinet minister that was meant to head offstreet protests similar to those against Prime Minister ThaksinShinawatra before a 2006 coup.
In a hour-long address on national television, Samakthreatened a police crackdown on protesters if they did notleave the Makawan Rangsan Bridge near the gilded Grand Palacein the heart of Bangkok.
"You have to clear out or the police will clear you out,"Samak said of the protests which began last Sunday when 20people were injured in clashes between pro and anti-governmentsupporters in the capital.
But as night fell, Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung saidpolice would not move against the peaceful crowd which hadgrown to 6,500 people.
He said Samak had been worried that "somebody might try tostir up unrest", but the threat had now diminished.
"The prime minister has no objective to break up anyrally," Chalerm said on Channel 9 television.
Earlier, Samak had accused the anti-Thaksin People'sAlliance for Democracy (PAD), which vowed on Friday to step upprotests against the government, of breaking the law anddamaging the country.
Several hundred riot police with shields and batons mannedbarricades around the rally, but the mood of the crowd appearedfestive. A police spokesman said they would try to negotiate apeaceful end to the protest.
"What we know for sure is that if any violence occurs, itwill come only from the government side, not ours," SomsakKosaisuk, one of five PAD leaders, told Reuters.
COUP RUMOURS
Another PAD leader told the crowd not to resist if policetried to end the protest, which has shut a 1 km stretch of asix-lane city centre road for nearly a week.
The minor scuffles that broke out between pro- andanti-Thaksin protesters last Sunday have stoked fears that thearmy might seize the chance of social unrest to storm back intothe political fray, analysts said.
Thailand's top military commander, who denied reports onThursday that the army may be plotting another coup, said hedid not believe soldiers would be ordered into the streets.
"That would require a state of emergency and I don't thinkthe Prime Minister will do that. It would make the country lookbad," Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit told Reuters.
Jakrapob Penkair, Minister to the Prime Minister's Office,quit on Friday after he was accused by police of makingoffensive remarks against the revered King Bhumibol Adulyadejin 2007.
The saga is part of wider campaign by the PAD and theopposition Democrat Party to paint Thaksin and his acolytes asrepublicans seeking to end the country's 76-year-oldconstitutional monarchy.
Stock investors reacted positively to Jakrapob'sresignation, with the main index closing up 0.4 percent onFriday after four days of falls due to political uncertainty.
Protests against Thaksin two years ago had started smallbut grew to 100,000-strong crowds before the coup on September19, 2006.
The putsch, the first in 15 years and widely seen as afailure, hurt the economy and scared off many foreigninvestors.
Samak, who is also defence minister, said the police andarmy were fully behind him.
"This is not September 19," he said. "We know what theproblem is and we will deal with it. The situation does notwarrant another coup."
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan)
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Davies)