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BANGKOK: Red-shirted protesters on Wednesday decamped to the residence of Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva but their four-day rally in support of their deposed political hero appeared to be petering out.
Thousands of "Red Shirts", loyal to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, began moving across Bangkok from their rally ground near government offices to the affluent Sukhumvit district, most by truck, car and motorcycle.
The move came a day after the protesters pressed their demand for Abhisit to resign in a bizarre bloody spectacle, when they made a mass collection of 300 litres of their own blood that was symbolically spilled at his office gates.
Police said over 10,000 protesters remained on Wednesday, far down from the rally's peak of more than 100,000 in attendance when it began at the weekend, and despite repeated calls by Red leaders and Thaksin himself for them to stay.
But even as numbers dwindled, protest leaders pleaded for patience and said success was within their grasp.
"We are near victory.... If we make a mistake now we will be defeated for a long time. We want a sustainable victory so please be patient," Red Shirt leader Jatuporn Prompan urged the crowd on Wednesday before leaving for Abhisit's empty and heavily secured residence.
The Reds are protesting against the perceived elitism and illegitimacy of the Abhisit government, which came to power via a December 2008 parliamentary vote after a controversial court ruling ousted Thaksin's allies.
Last month another court decision confiscated US$1.4 billion from Thaksin, whose followers are largely from the poor rural north and fervently support the populist policies he introduced before being ousted in a 2006 coup.
Abhisit has been staying with other key leaders at an army barracks in the capital's northern outskirts since the rally began, and the protesters massed there briefly on Monday as he refused their demand to call snap elections.
On Wednesday he was due to fly to Thailand's far south, where a six-year separatist insurgency continues.
The government enacted a strict Internal Security Act to monitor the Bangkok rally, deploying 50,000 soldiers and police across the city and surrounding provinces as it feared violence by saboteurs.
Some 900 policemen have been standing guard at Abhisit's residence, which has been hit several times in recent weeks by protesters throwing bags of excrement at the walls.
The premier has twice rejected the crowd's demand to dissolve parliament, saying he must think of the country's interests and not only those of the Reds.
A joint session of both houses of parliament was postponed on Tuesday due to the lack of a quorum, with some lawmakers fearing for their safety in the ongoing demonstrations, parliamentary officials said.
Police said with falling numbers of demonstrators, they expected the rally to end within a few days. Red Shirt leaders have been using their rally stage to appeal for more protesters to arrive from the provinces.
Thaksin, who lives in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for graft at home, has spoken to the crowd via video link each night, urging them to fight on.
Tensions rose on Monday when four grenades exploded at a separate army barracks in Bangkok but it was not clear if the attacks were linked to the Red Shirts, whose leaders deny involvement.
Since the coup that ousted Thaksin, Thailand has been rocked by protests from both supporters and opponents of the former premier.
- AFP/sc
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