Sunday rally to last until Thai PM quits

THAILAND: A planned anti-government rally in central Bangkok this weekend is expected to draw at least 100,000 people and will continue until Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra quits, its organisers said on Friday.

The presence of Chamlong Srimuang, an ascetic 70-year-old general who led a successful but bloody "people power" uprising in May 1992 against the then military government, has given added spice to the six-month long anti-Thaksin campaign.

"This rally will last until the Prime Minister quits," said Chamlong, who stunned many Thais with his decision to turn against his one-time political protege and join Sunday's protest in front of Bangkok's golden-spired Grand Palace.

"We will eat and sleep there, but I don't know for how long," said Chamlong, adding that he had the power to get people onto the streets once again to put "the giant behind bars".

The political uncertainty has caused the baht and the stock market to wobble. Defence Minister Thammarak Isaranura voiced the fears of many people in Bangkok that the protests could lead to violence.

"We are mostly concerned that someone will create a situation in which two opposing groups of people meet in one place and start making trouble," Thammarak said.

As with previous protests, riot police with water cannon are expected to be deployed in large numbers. Now in his sixth year in office, telecoms tycoon and self-styled "CEO prime minister" Thaksin is facing a chorus of critics from graft-busters to ex-business partners and anti-privatisation campaigners calling for his resignation.

A middle class backlash against his family's tax-free $1.9 billion sale in January of their stake in the Shin Corp telecoms empire he founded has intensified the pressure to the point where his office said snap elections were an option.

In the latest twist in the Shin saga, regulators accused Thaksin's son on Thursday of violating securities laws in his handling of the stake in the years running up to the sale.

Bangkok, Friday (Reuters)