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BANGKOK - Thai protesters laying siege to state offices are to hold a rally later Sunday which they say will be a final push to topple the government, putting Thailand on edge after a week of escalating violence.
Calls for the fresh demonstration and a march to parliament ahead of a session on Monday came after a string of attacks at Government House -- the prime minister's Cabinet offices which protesters have occupied since late August.
On Thursday, one protester was killed and 29 wounded when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded in the middle of the Bangkok protest site, while on Saturday eight people were injured by a similar bomb.
The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protest group has blamed the government for both attacks, and has called for supporters throughout the country to join them in a "last battle" against the current administration.
"Our supporters are coming from outside (Bangkok)," Anchalee Paireerak, a spokeswoman for the PAD, told cheering crowds at Government House on Sunday.
"We will soon declare our victory."
The government has denied any link to the recent attacks, and Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat has promised a swift police investigation.
The PAD claim the ruling People Power Party (PPP) elected last December is running Thailand on behalf of Thaksin Shinawatra, the premier ousted in a 2006 coup who was last month sentenced to two years in jail on corruption charges.
Thaksin fled the country in August but a power battle is raging between those who support the charismatic former leader, and the old power elite in the military, palace and bureaucracy who want to purge Thailand of his influence.
The PPP openly ran for government as the party linked to Thaksin, who is currently believed to be in Dubai.
About 1,000 anti-Thaksin protesters have been camped out at Government House since late August, and protest leaders have called on more supporters to gather there Sunday afternoon.
They have vowed to march to the nearby parliament and block a joint session of lawmakers set for Monday morning.
A similar march aimed at preventing a parliament session on October 7 erupted into the worst street violence Bangkok had seen in 16 years, as police and protesters clashed, leaving two people dead and nearly 500 injured.
Those clashes and the recent bomb attacks in and around Government House have raised fears of more bloodshed this week, with the English-language Nation newspaper saying Sunday "the fate of the country hangs in the balance."
National deputy police spokesman Surapol Tuanthong told reporters that security forces would follow protocol and would try and negotiate with the protesters if the situation got out of hand.
"Force will not be used if it is not necessary," he said. "Police will also ask the army for assistance if police do not have enough man power."
Leaders of the umbrella union of state enterprises have said they will call a strike if the government does not step down. They set a deadline for Tuesday, but similar calls in the past have not been widely heeded by union members.
- AFP/ir
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