By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Saturday they wouldnot break up an anti-government rally in Bangkok after anapparent reversal by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.
Earlier in a televised address to the nation, Samak hadthreatened police action against the protests that have ignitedfears of a military coup.
"We have been ordered by the prime minister not to break upthe crowd tonight. He is concerned about their safety and hewants us to continue to talk to them," national policespokesman Lt. Gen. Vatcharapol Prasanratchkij told reporters atthe rally.
Several hundred riot police with shields and batons watchedthe peaceful 6,500-strong rally on the Makawan Rangsan Bridgenear the gilded Grand Palace in the heart of Bangkok.
Samak's warning had come a day after a cabinet ministerresigned in a move aimed at preventing the protests similar tothose against Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra before he wasousted in a 2006 coup.
"You have to clear out or the police will clear you out,"Samak said initially of the protests which began last Sundaywhen 20 people were injured in clashes between pro andanti-government supporters in the capital.
But as night fell, Interior Minister Chalerm Yubamrung saidpolice would not move against the mainly middle-class crowd,who appeared in a festive mood.
"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.
COUP RUMOURS
"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.
Minor scuffles between pro- and anti-Thaksin protesterslast Sunday stoked fears that the army might seize the chanceto storm back into the 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 A campaign by the PAD and theopposition Democrat Party to paint Thaksin and his acolytes asrepublicans seeking to end the country's constitutionalmonarchy.
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 started small butgrew to 100,000-strong crowds before the coup on September 19,2006.
Samak said the police and army were behind him.
"This is not September 19," he said. "The situation doesnot warrant another coup."
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan)
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Giles Elgood)
