Thai opposition vows to continue protests

By Apornrath Phoonphongphiphat

BANGKOK (Reuters) - A Thai opposition group vowed on Sunday to hold more anti-government street rallies in Bangkok in a bid to force the government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej to step down.

"We will stay here until the government resigns," Somsak Kosaisuk, one of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leaders, told Reuters by telephone from the rally at the Makawan Rangsan bridge near the Grand Palace in the heart of Bangkok.

His remarks came a day after Samak appeared to back off from a threat to crack down on the protests that have ignited fears of a military coup.

The PAD, a coalition of civic groups, and the opposition Democrat Party accuse Samak's government of being a puppet of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The rallies which began a week ago are similar to the PAD's street campaign against Thaksin before he was ousted in a 2006 coup. The protests two years ago started small but grew to 100,000-strong crowds before the military intervened.

Saturday's rally swelled to 6,500 protesters watched by several hundred police with shields and batons.

The crowd had thinned to around 400-500 by Sunday morning, but PAD leader Somsak said he expected numbers to grow later and they would be alert to any attempt to break up the rally.

In an address to the nation on Saturday morning, Samak had threatened to crack down on the protests and several hundred riot police were deployed along with hundreds more in reserve.