government protesters hunkered down at the Thai prime minister's office compound Thursday evening, preparing to extend their illegal occupation for a third night with no end in sight. The crowd of several thousand swelled as some protesters returned after spending the day at their workplaces. They vowed to stay for as long as it takes to push Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej out of office. “We can withstand any difficult conditions if we can topple Samak,” said Kitja Usaiphan, 43, a fisherman who has been camping at the site since Tuesday with other followers of the People's Alliance for Democracy. The alliance accuses Samak's government to step down, accusing it of serving as a proxy for former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup and faces several pending corruption cases. Thaksin is in self-imposed exile in Britain. The demonstrators are defying a Civil Court order to end their occupation, saying they had a right to remain and would stay until the country's leaders resign. The court on Thursday rejected the alliance's appeal to withdraw its Wednesday eviction order, describing the request to stay on as “unreasonable.” The alliance said it might file a second appeal Friday with different arguments. Samak said Thursday that the court order had given the government extra leverage to deal with the protesters, but he has vowed not to use force to remove them. “Simply stated, the court has given the government a ‘sword,' but officials concerned will enforce the court order with caution,” the state Thai News Agency quoted him saying. Several times during the day, the crowd outside the prime minister's office appeared to be bracing for an attack that never came. Groups of protesters wearing military fatigues and armed with golf clubs, batons and bamboo sticks stood guard around the perimeter of the Government House compound. Protesters locked most of the gates and built up makeshift barriers of tires in anticipation of a police raid. Chamlong Srimuang, one of the top protest leaders, said the protesters are doing nothing wrong.
