Thousands of anti-government demonstrators pushed into the Thai prime minister's office compound and rallied outside several ministries Tuesday, following the violent takeover of a state-run TV station's offices by a masked mob from the same protest group. According to AP, the right-wing People's Alliance for Democracy said its actions uesday constituted a «final showdown» in its efforts to oust the elected government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej. The group has been protesting sporadically across the capital, Bangkok, since May to demand the government's resignation. As many as 30,000 protesters rallied outside four government ministries and Government House, according to Samak. They withdrew from the TV station and ministries by the end of the day, but several thousand appeared to set to camp out at the Government House compound Tuesday night. By nightfall, a relaxed, even festive, atmosphere prevailed among the protesters . Samak said the government would not use force to eject the protesters. He said that the authorities would prevent new protesters from entering the compound, but would let people leave. The demonstrations around the government ministries had already broken up by late in the day. Samak accused the protest alliance of trying to provoke bloodshed that would spark a coup to oust his government,and said he would not resign. But he refused to declare a state of emergency, saying it would «damage the atmosphere.» He did not elaborate. A Tuesday 6 p.m. deadline for protesters to leave was set _ and passed _ but deputy police spokesman Maj. Gen.Surapol Tuanthong said that was set simply to allow authorities to launch legal action against the occupiers if they overstayed.
