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...Government Spokesman Panitan Wattanayagorn said it was unlikely Prime Minister Abhisit would resign even if the protesters were able to temporarily paralyze parts of Bangkok. "They did that last year and the Prime Minister did not resign. We have the capability and legal authority to clear the streets if they begin breaking the law," he said...
...flags, number far less than the one million that leaders promised would turn out in the preceding weeks. After riding into the capital in pick-up trucks and buses, their numbers peaked at about 100,000 on Saturday night, mainly rural poor who want the return of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra. Thaksin was ousted in a 2006 military coup and is living in self-imposed exile rather than serve a two-year prison sentence on a corruption conviction. In late February, the Supreme Court confiscated $1.5 billion of his assets, saying he had enriched himself through abuse of power...
...Thailand has been locked in a vicious cycle of pro- and anti-Thaksin demonstrations since late 2005. Thaksin's opponents say he was authoritarian and corrupt; his supporters say he was the first prime minister to address the problems of the nation's poor. The September 2006 coup failed to resolve the conflict. "The coup made the divisions even deeper. Now they are an abyss," said Weng Tojirakan, a red shirt leader...
...Still, the threat to paralyze Bangkok yet again has put the city on edge. Many roads in the normally traffic-choked capital were virtually empty on Sunday. Last April, the red shirts, staging a similar protest, rioted in several spots around Bangkok, setting buses on fire, attacking the Prime Minister's car, and threatening to blow up a housing project with gas tanker trucks. The government called on the military to restore order, and troops cleared the streets without bloodshed. Conversely, anti-Thaksin demonstrators, called the yellow shirts, invaded and occupied government offices and Bangkok International Airport, shutting it down...
...Prime Minister Abhisit has said that the red shirts are free to exercise their democratic rights, but they must not break any laws. Security forces have been on high alert since the start of the demonstrations on Friday, and Abhisit has invoked the Internal Security Act, which places responsibility for security to a joint council of politicians, the military and police chaired by the Prime Minister...