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BANGKOK - Fugitive former Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra Friday dismissed an offer by the government to hold talks, saying it was "nonsense" and calling for an escalation of nine-day old protests.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said earlier that he was ready to negotiate with Thaksin, who was toppled in a coup in 2006, in a bid to end a blockade of the seat of government in Bangkok by Thaksin's supporters.
But Thaksin hit back by urging his loyalists to come from all over the country to a mass rally on April 8, which the so-called "Red Shirts" say they expect hundreds of thousands of people to attend.
"The government said they want to talk. They are just talking nonsense," Thaksin told the protesters camped outside Government House in a video link from an undisclosed foreign location.
"I will join with the people in calling for true democracy and solving our problems once and for all. On April 8 we will repeat the people's revolution," he said.
He called for "as many people as possible" to rally on the day in Bangkok or else in provincial centres if they were unable to reach the capital.
The former premier also hit out at the privy council, the main advisors to Thailand's revered king, having accused two of its senior members last week of masterminding the coup against him.
"I ask the people... to come out en masse, to show that we really want to share a good future, otherwise the privy councillors will drag our country backwards," he said.
"In a few days there will be a historic change for Thailand," he added.
Thousands of demonstrators have gathered outside the premier's offices in the capital since March 26, demanding that Abhisit step down and call fresh elections, and forcing the cabinet to cancel its weekly meeting on Monday.
Police said about 1,500 anti-government activists remain outside the complex in the biggest rally since the prime minister took office in December on the back of a court decision that removed Thaksin's allies from power.
They said nearly 1,000 had also staged a secondary protest outside a Bangkok duty-free shop owned by a man accused of supporting their opponents.
On his return from the G20 summit in London, Abhisit echoed his deputy's earlier call for discussions with Thaksin, but ruled out an amnesty for the exiled leader who faces a jail term for corruption.
"I will tell (Thaksin) only that the government will reassure him of a fair trial but everything must proceed under the law," he told reporters.
"The government's standpoint is not to bargain in order to avoid future problems," he said.
The government survived a no-confidence motion last month brought by the pro-Thaksin opposition.
Thaksin remains hugely popular among the rural and urban poor but he is loathed by Thailand's old guard in the palace, military and bureaucracy.
- AFP /ls
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