Thaksin rivals vow not to end protest until his resignation

Protesters hold banners as they shout slogans against Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during a protest at Saman Luang in Bangkok yesterday. Thai opposition staged a mass rally in Bangkok, where tens of thousands of people demanded resignation of Thaksin. PHOTO: AFP

"We will camp there until we get the answer from Thaksin," Suriyasai Katasila, spokesman for the anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy, told AFP.

"If the police don't allow us to stay at the venue, we have the right to disobey their orders," he warned.

Tens of thousands of people are expected to join the protest from 4:00 pm (0900 GMT), with 5,000 police on hand and another 5,000 on alert.

Political tensions ran high in Bangkok this weekend as Thaksin and his rivals staged dueling mass rallies just two days apart in the same Sanam Luang field near the royal palace.

Organisers of the rally Sunday said they planned to march from Sanam Luang to Democracy Monument about one kilometer (half a mile) away, where Suriyasai said they would camp for days if necessary until Thaksin steps down.