By Pracha Hariraksapitak and Ed Cropley
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Chanting "Get out, get out", thousandsof protesters camped outside the office of Thailand's primeminister on Friday after police removed barricades blockingthem in their four-week campaign to oust the government.
The crowd, nearly all them wearing yellow shirts in honourof King Bhumibol Adulyadej, waved flags and sang songs outsidethe ornate wrought-iron fence surrounding Government House asriot police stood by casually watching them.
Despite fears of violence, the People's Alliance forDemocracy (PAD) march of 25,000 mainly middle-class Bangkokresidents was largely peaceful, prompting relieved investors topush up Thai shares by nearly 4 percent. "This is a victory forthe PAD and people who love justice," PAD spokesman SuriyasaiKatasila told reporters as night fell on the thousands ofdemonstrators still on sitting on the road outside thecompound.
The PAD, a motley collection of businessmen, academics,royalists and unionised workers, launched the campaign fourweeks ago, united by their hatred of former prime ministerThaksin Shinawatra who was ousted in a bloodless 2006 coup.
The long-running protests against the government of PrimeMinister Samak Sundaravej, which the PAD views as anillegitimate Thaksin proxy, raised political tensions at a timeof stuttering economic growth and soaring inflation.
Fears of clashes last month between police anddemonstrators stoked rumours of another military coup less thantwo years after the army's bloodless removal of Thaksin, whoinsists he has retired from politics although few believe him.
Samak called a meeting with the chiefs of the army andpolice as the protest unfolded, but declined to speak toreporters after the talks at a military compound.
Army chief Anupong Paochinda, a member of the militarycouncil that ousted Thaksin, has previously insisted the armywould not get involved, perhaps mindful of unrest in 1992, whensoldiers opened fire on pro-democracy marchers, killing dozens.
INVESTORS RELIEVED
A few days ago police said they were prepared to use firehoses and tear gas to stop the marchers, and barricades ofcrash barriers and prison trucks were erected to block accessto the government compound.
But after the protesters sat in front of the barricades forseveral hours, the police suddenly turned around and walkedaway. Some officers waved to the cheering crowd as theydeparted.
"Police had to let the protesters through our blockadesbecause we never wanted to use violence against them in thefirst place," Police Major General Surapol Thuanthong toldReuters.
He said some 8,000 police would remain in the area toensure there was no unrest.
"We let them in because they promised not to use anyweapons or go inside the Government House compound. They havekept their word so far," Surapol said.
The absence of violence triggered a nearly four percentrally in Thai shares, although the main index is still down 13percent since the PAD started its campaign on May 25.
The baht, which hit more than a five-month low of 33.53against the dollar earlier in the day, prompting the centralbank to intervene in the jittery market, later stabilised at33.41.
Although the PAD said it wanted a peaceful rally, dozens ofits bodyguards had armed themselves with baseball bats, plastichelmets and wooden shields.
PAD co-leader Chamlong Srimuang, a retired major-generalwho led a 1992 "people power" protest against a military-ledgovernment, said they would defend themselves if governmentsupporters attacked the marchers.
"We have some baseball bats because we don't believe thepolice can protect us from those troublemakers from hell,"Chamlong told the crowd.
Since Thursday, hundreds of government supporters have heldtheir own rally close to the PAD stage, the two sides hurlinginsults at each other as a few dozen police kept them apart.
(Additional reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan)
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Cropley andValerie Lee)
