By Chalathip Thirasoonthrakul and Ed Cropley
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai riot police fired teargas at protesters outside parliament on Tuesday, injuring 69 people, as campaigners opened a new front in their four-month bid to unseat the government.
Some protesters were badly hurt, including two men who had part of their legs blown off by exploding gas canisters when police moved to clear a path through the barricades for Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat.
The protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) regrouped at the front of parliament, chanting slogans through massive sound systems to try to disrupt Somchai's maiden policy speech.
"It was absolutely necessary for police to use teargas 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 PAD has 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.
Traders said the U.S. dollar advanced against the Thai baht, citing the unrest, and the stock market tumbled, although in both cases the credit crisis was also a major factor.
RIOT POLICE
Outside parliament, a phalanx of riot police seven-deep faced several thousand PAD supporters, many of them wearing masks and swimming goggles in case of another tear gas attack.
"We will be here all day today. We will fight here," Sirichai Mai-ngam, one of the PAD's leaders, said on radio.
The legislative session got underway despite the building being on standby power after protesters tore down power lines.
The PAD, a coalition of businessmen, academics and activists, accuses Somchai of being a political proxy for former premier 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 the 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.
The head of Vajira Hospital told reporters Queen Sirikit had donated 100,000 baht ($2,900) to the hospital to help treat the injured.
($1=34.41 Baht)
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Alan Raybould and Valerie Lee)
