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BANGKOK - A senior Thai police official on Tuesday gave protesters surrounding key state buildings in Bangkok a deadline of 6:00pm local time (1100 GMT) to leave the main government compound, or be removed.
"The protesters must leave the government compound before 6:00pm, otherwise they will be asked to leave," Major General Surapol Tuanthong, deputy national police spokesman, told reporters.
"They have caused disorder and breached the law."
Thousands of Thai protesters earlier broke through a barricade and spilled into Government House in their campaign to force Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej out of office.
Government spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat said he was confident that the protests could be quelled by Wednesday.
"Everything will be restored back to normal within 24 hours. Please wait and see for the government operation," he told reporters, adding that the premier was unlikely to invoke emergency rule.
Samak earlier vowed to take "decisive action" to quell mass rallies in Bangkok and said the police would use all measures necessary to put an end to the demonstrations.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has been protesting since May, claims Samak is running the country on behalf of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and is barred from holding office.
- AFP/ir
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