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BANGKOK: Thailand issued arrest warrants Wednesday for protest leaders besieging the main government complex, as authorities scrambled to find a peaceful end to the administration's most serious challenge yet.
As riot police moved in, leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) vowed to stay inside the Government House compound until Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej bows to their demands to step down.
A Criminal Court official said they had issued arrest warrants on charges including treason and illegal assembly against nine PAD members including the five leaders, and the government said they were determined to act.
"Police will arrest them today (Wednesday)," said government spokesman Wichainchot Sukchoterat. "Police can legitimately use a minimum of force if they resist or are armed."
On Tuesday, up to 35,000 demonstrators stormed a state-run television station, besieged at least three ministries and finally invaded the grounds of Government House, stepping up a campaign to bring down Samak's administration.
Interior Minister Kowit Wattana earlier urged a peaceful end to the rally.
"I ask protesters of the PAD to please withdraw from the Government House compound immediately. You can rally somewhere else," he told reporters.
But despite government pleas, the threat of arrest, and even the onset of a tropical rain storm, protest leaders refused to budge.
"If you want to arrest us, come here and arrest us here -- it is the government who must go," leader Somsak Kosaisuk told protesters, most of whom wore yellow shirts out of allegiance to revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
Hundreds of protesters briefly formed a human shield around the PAD's most vocal leaders -- media tycoon Sondhi Limthongkul and retired general Chamlong Srimuang -- who sat on the ground in t-shirts reading "Fight for the king."
Small scuffles broke out between police and protesters early Wednesday, but for most of the day the police deployed in the Government House compound, some armed with batons and shields, kept away from the demonstrators.
One police officer who refused to be named said that 2,000 police were deployed outside Government House, while 500 were inside.
The PAD movement, which has been protesting since May, says that Samak is a proxy running the country on behalf of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and is barred from holding office.
Samak, who won elections last December and formed his coalition government in February, has said he will not resign.
The premier, who was working Wednesday from army headquarters, said Tuesday that his approach would be "soft and gentle" and that police would simply surround the seat of government until everyone had left.
"They (the PAD) want bloodshed in the country, they want the military to come out and stage a coup again," Samak told a press conference.
Samak has won praise from Thailand's often-hostile English-language press, with a poll published Tuesday showing nearly 68 percent of Bangkok residents surveyed did not agree with the Government House siege.
PAD protests in early 2006 helped lead to the putsch that unseated Thaksin, and the entry to government of his ally Samak infuriated the old power elites in the military and palace.
Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political analyst based at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn university, told AFP the protest could backfire as the city's residents tire of the disruption.
"They have broken the law and it could be a serious setback for them," he said. "The government has a lot of options -- they have time on their side."
Since taking office, Samak has faced a series of setbacks. Court decisions forced three top government officials to resign, while the ongoing PAD protests have helped send the stock market down nearly 18 percent since May.
- AFP/ir
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