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BANGKOK: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Tuesday he was prepared to take action against protesters who have blockaded his office for six days, but said they would not goad police into violence.
Speaking before he left for the key G20 meeting in London, Abhisit said the protest group allied to fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra could not be allowed to continue its rally indefinitely.
The protest is the latest in the kingdom's long-running political turmoil which kicked off when billionaire Thaksin was toppled in a military coup in 2006 and has flared up again since Abhisit came to power in December.
The demonstrators - known as the "Red Shirts" because of their distinctive crimson attire - say they will stay until the British-born Abhisit resigns and calls fresh elections.
Asked by a reporter if he would consider decisive measures to remove them, Abhisit replied: "If the need arises then the government will have to, but the government has no plan to use violence."
"Some parties have tried to provoke violence... but my government will not fall for their ploy," he said before boarding a flight to Britain for the G20 meeting, which he will attend as a representative of Southeast Asian countries.
Abhisit came to power after a controversial court decision that forced the previous Thaksin-allied government from office, but that ruling followed months of divisive street rallies that occasionally turned violent.
At one point anti-Thaksin protesters occupied Bangkok's airports for nine days from late November to early December, costing the economy billions of dollars.
The prime minister promised nothing similar would happen this time.
Dispersing the protesters "would be under the rule of law and in line with international practice. It would only be if necessary and unavoidable," he said.
Abhisit's cabinet meanwhile cancelled its weekly meeting on Tuesday as a hardcore of around 2,000 protesters remained camped outside Government House in downtown Bangkok.
Deputy prime minister Suthep Thaugsuban said the government wanted to avoid clashing with the group, but added that the administration had sought a court injunction to remove them.
"The situation is unfavourable... and also the prime minister will travel overseas, so I decided to cancel the cabinet meeting today," Suthep told reporters at the headquarters of the ruling Democrat Party.
Television footage on Monday showed groups of Thaksin supporters gathering in a dozen provinces across Thailand, but Suthep denied that the movement was gaining strength.
Thaksin currently lives in exile to avoid a two-year jail term for corruption and has given several video addresses to his supporters outside the prime minister's office in recent days.
He remains hugely popular among the rural and urban poor but is loathed by Thailand's old power cliques in the palace, military and bureaucracy. - AFP/de
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