By Chalathip Thirasoonthrakul
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police fired tear gas at anti-government protesters on Tuesday, clearing them from a road to parliament after they had vowed to stop Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat delivering his maiden policy speech.
Television footage showed police firing volleys of gas and clouds of white smoke on the road where the protesters had erected barbed wire and tyre barricades since late Monday.
At least 69 people were injured, three seriously, hospital officials said.
"It was absolutely necessary for police to use tear gas to break up the crowd," Major General Anan Srihiran told Reuters.
"We only wanted to open up a road for the cabinet to enter parliament. We will not do anything else to the protesters for the rest of the day," he said as police tore down the barricades.
The protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) regrouped at the front of parliament, joining thousands of other PAD supporters waging a four-month campaign to unseat the government.
They have occupied the prime minister's offices at Government House since late August, forcing Somchai to run the country from Bangkok's little-used Don Muang airport.
The street campaign has hurt investor confidence in Thailand and distracted policymakers at a time when they should be focussed on slowing demand for exports and the fallout from the global credit crisis, analysts say.
In currency markets, traders said the U.S. dollar advanced against the Thai baht, citing domestic unrest.
RIOT POLICE
Somchai has vowed to attend the opening of parliament, where under Thai law the government must formally announce its projects before they can be implemented.
He was due to arrive at around 9 a.m. (0200 GMT).
"He is not worried. It is the job of the police to handle it," Choosak Sirinil, secretary to the prime minister, told reporters.
Outside parliament, seven lines of riot police faced some 5,000 PAD supporters, some of them wearing masks and swimming goggles in case of another tear gas attack.
A Reuters reporter saw one group trying to cut power to the building by tearing down power lines.
PAD leader and media firebrand Sondhi Limthongkul had called on more supporters to mass at parliament.
"No matter how hot it will be, how heavily it will rain, how hungry you will be, or how desperately you want to go to the toilet, you must surround parliament to prevent this government from delivering its policy to parliament," Sondhi said at Government House late on Monday.
The PAD, a coalition of businessmen, academics and activists, accuses Somchai of being a political proxy for Thaksin Shinawatra, his brother-in-law, who was removed in a 2006 military coup.
Somchai has tried to open a dialogue with the PAD since he replaced Samak Sundaravej, who was removed last month by courts.
But no real talks have started and there has been little prospect of the PAD, which says it is acting in the name of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, ending its protests.
(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley; Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Alan Raybould and Valerie Lee)
