By Chalathip Thirasoonthrakul
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai rail workers began a partialstrike on Thursday, joining a protest by thousands of peoplebarricaded inside the prime minister's official compound whoseleaders vowed to stay until his government fell.
As many as 80 train drivers and mechanics at a key railjunction connecting central Thailand to the north and northeastcalled in sick, disrupting at least five trains and strandingthousands of passengers, state rail officials said.
"We have told our union members to call a leave of absenceto join the rally in Bangkok to oust this government, which hasbeen damaging the country over the past seven months," StateRail labour union leader Sawit Kaewvan told Reuters.
Sawit, who also heads an umbrella group of all stateenterprises' labour unions which has 200,000 members, said moreunions including electricity and water would announce actionagainst the government on Friday.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, who ordered police tobreak up the rally at Government House on Wednesday, softenedhis stance after failing to exercise arrest warrants overnightfor nine leaders of the three-month-old anti-governmentcampaign. The protesters defied a court order to leave thecompound.
"I've told the police not to break up the crowd, but toencourage people to leave," Samak said of the 10,000 supportersof the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) camped on theGovernment House lawn behind makeshift barricades.
"After thorough consideration, it would be too dangerous todo so," Samak told reporters at army headquarters after beingforced to abandon his main office this week.
The PAD leaders have been charged with trying to overthrowthe seven-month-old government through a violent insurrection,a crime that can carry the death penalty.
"We won't leave Government House as ordered by the CivilCourt," said retired general and PAD leader Chamlong Srimuang,whose group planned to appeal against the court order.
"Our demands remain the same -- to have the governmentresign and to prevent an amendment of the 2007 constitution,"he said of the army-approved charter drawn up after themilitary ousted former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in a2006 coup.
PROTESTS
The PAD, a motley group of royalist businessmen andacademics, accuses Samak's coalition government of being anillegitimate proxy of Thaksin, now in exile in London.
It also sees itself as a defender of King BhumibolAdulyadej against a supposed Thaksin plan to turn Thailand intoa republic -- a charge denied by both Thaksin and thegovernment.
Earlier protests by the PAD were key to the turmoil thatled to the 2006 coup, but several newspapers said this week'sstorming of government offices and a TV station went too far.
Analysts said the standoff was likely to drag on as long asthe government kept its cool.
"As the police have so far shown restraint and resistedefforts to disperse the crowd by force and shoulder theconsequences, the PAD is pinning its hopes on some men in greensharing its goal of toppling the government," the Bangkok Postsaid in a column.
With army commanders pledging to stay in their barracks,investors appear to be ignoring the impasse for now. The stockmarket rose 1 percent on Thursday, while the baht was flat.
Thai shares have fallen 23 percent since the streetcampaign began in May amid fears of everything from policyparalysis at a time of stuttering economic growth to bloodshedon the streets.
In an effort to discourage more people from joining therally, police erected small banners at the gates to GovernmentHouse reading "No entry as ordered by the court; violators tobe prosecuted". Newcomers arriving at the compound ignoredthem.
(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley; Writing by NoppornWong-Anan; Editing by Caroline Drees)