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BANGKOK: Thailand's embattled Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told the nation Sunday he was confident there would be no military coup, despite weeks of street protests calling for his resignation.
Some 5,000 protesters have been squatting in the grounds of his now-empty offices for nearly two weeks and a state of emergency has been declared across the capital, but Samak said a peaceful resolution was still possible.
"The military believes no coup is the best way to defend the country rather than a coup," Samak said.
After violent street clashes last Monday night, Samak invoked a state of emergency in Bangkok, handing control of the protests to the military.
The army has so far refused to disperse the protesters, but Thai media reported Saturday that senior commanders have ruled out staging a coup - for now.
"I can assure the public that we will not stage a coup because it will bring more complications and nobody agrees to it," Supreme Commander General Boonsrang Niumpradit told the daily Matichon newspaper.
"We are discussing how can we help the nation," he said.
Meanwhile, Samak said he planned to attend a scheduled meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on September 25 - unless further violence broke out.
"I can't go if there is a riot, but there will be no riot because people in this country know what is what," Samak said.
Samak spent the weekend holed up in his heavily-guarded home as protesters from the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) vowed to continue defying emergency rule banning their gathering.
PAD, who accuses Samak of acting as a puppet for deposed former premier Thakin Shinawatra, occupied the grounds of Government House on August 26 and have refused to budge until he steps down.
They want to change the electoral system to weaken the influence of poor voters to ensure that Thaksin's political allies do not return to power.
PAD staged similar protests prior to the military coup that ousted Thaksin in September 2006.
The kingdom has experienced 18 coups in its history.
- AFP/yb
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