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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Thousands of protesters gather in Bangkok, seek polls Reuters - Sunday, March 14 Send IM Story Print By Ambika Ahuja BANGKOK - Tens of thousands of protesters converged in Bangkok on Sunday to give Thailand's military-backed government an ultimatum: either call elections or face more pro-democracy demonstrations over the coming week. About 80,000 red-shirted supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a military coup in 2006, arrived in a stream of vehicles from northern provinces over the weekend, carrying red flags and blaring music about democracy and freedom. Thousands more were expected by Sunday evening, including hundreds who boarded boats in nearby Ayuddhutthya province. Investors are worried about violence and the government being distracted when it should be focussed on a nascent recovery in Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy. Protest leaders insist their rally will be peaceful. They plan to maintain pressure on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva to dissolve parliament and call an election Thaksin's allies would be well placed to win. "If Abhisit does not quit by Monday, we will march all over Bangkok," said Veera Musikapong, chairman of the protest group, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship . Abhisit's government must go to the polls by the end of next year, and is unlikely to agree to immediate elections. Thailand's security forces were on their highest alert, said Thawil Pliensri, secretary general of the National Security Council, told Reuters. "It may get more volatile after a few days as the protest leaders step up their measures and people are tired and frustrated. We have to make sure there is no damage." TARGETING BANGKOK'S "ELITE" The protests add a new chapter to a seemingly intractable political crisis broadly pitting the military, urban elite and royalists, who wear the revered king's traditional colour of yellow at protests, against the mainly rural Thaksin supporters. The protesters say the British-born, Oxford-educated Abhisit came to power illegitimately, heading a coalition cobbled together by the military after courts dissolved a pro-Thaksin party which led the previous coalition government. Crowds gathered under tents and umbrellas, sitting on plastic sheets and mats listening to speeches and folk songs on stage. "This government angers me. I never cared much about politics until a few years ago when it becomes so clear they are trying to hold onto power at the expense of people like us," said Teerachai Sukpitak, a farmer from northeast Leoi province. The protesters chafe at what they say is an "unelected elite" preventing allies of twice-elected Thaksin from returning to power through a vote. Adding to their anger, Thailand's top court seized $1.4 billion of his assets last month, saying it was accrued through abuse of power. "We are here to ask for justice and for rule of law to be applied to all," one protest leader, Weng Torirajkan, told cheering supporters. "Since the government cannot do it because it's too busy serving the elite, we ask that it step out and call fresh elections so we have a government that represents the whole country, a government that represents us." Thailand was plagued by political upheaval in 2008 when yellow-shirted protesters who opposed Thaksin's allies in the previous government occupied the prime minister's office for three months, and then formed a blockade at Bangkok's international airport until a court ousted the government. Thaksin, a 60-year-old former telecommunications tycoon, has lived in self-exile mostly in Dubai since he was sentenced to two years in prison in 2008 on graft charges. He spoke to supporters by video link from an undisclosed location in Europe late on Saturday, urging them to rally together to topple the government. "Keep good health, be patient and stay strong," he said. "The more they bully me, the more I will fight." He is beloved in the vote-rich north and northeast after becoming the first Thai leader to win election twice, both in landslides, largely by reaching out to the poor through unprecedented populist policies such as universal healthcare. His critics accuse him of authoritarianism, corruption and undermining the monarchy. Soldiers stood at many state buildings after government warnings of potential sabotage, including bombings and arson. Roberto Herrera-Lim, an analyst at Eurasia Group, said the "red shirts" recognised violence would be counter-productive and were now intent on building up public support. "Whether the 'red shirts' will accomplish anything at all depends on the numbers that they can muster," he said. 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