The BBC's Alastair Leithead among the protesters in Bangkok

Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in a fresh bid to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva out of office. The protesters are mainly supporters of the former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and faces jail if he returns from exile.

Security forces are deployed at major sites around Bangkok.

Thailand's long political crisis has yet to end despite a court's removal of Mr Thaksin's allies from government.

As protesters gathered, Mr Abhisit said he would not dissolve parliament.

Red shirts gather

Police said about 30,000 red-clad supporters of Mr Thaksin had gathered outside the main government offices in the capital, where demonstrators have been staging a sit-in for the past two weeks.

The protest comes a day after Mr Abhisit's motorcade was attacked following a cabinet meeting in the resort town of Pattaya.

The demonstrators, from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), claim Mr Abhisit came to power illegally, and accuse the current government of being a puppet of the military.

Q&A: Thailand protests In pictures: Thai protests Profile: Abhisit Vejjajiva

Protest leaders say they expect thousands more to come from around the country for what they have called "D-Day" in their efforts to push Mr Abhisit to dissolve his four-month-old government and hold elections.

Police said they believed protesters were planning to surround the residence of one of the widely respected king's top advisers, Gen Prem Tinsulanonda, who has been accused by Mr Thaksin of orchestrating the coup that toppled him in 2006.

Mr Thaksin, who is living in an undisclosed foreign country, said late on Tuesday that the protests would mark an "historic day for Thailand".

"We will come peacefully but we need as many people as possible to show that the Thai people will not tolerate these politics any more," he said in a speech via video-link to supporters outside Government House.

Plea for calm

British-born Mr Abhisit came to power in December after a court ruling removed Thaksin's allies from government.

At the time, yellow-shirted anti-Thaksin protesters had closed the country's airports for a week.

The pro-Thaksin lobby is on Bangkok's streets, calling for fresh electionsThe Thai government is preparing to host leaders of 16 Asian nations from 10-12 April in the coastal resort on Pattaya.

Mr Abhisit said the meeting would go ahead as planned, despite the demonstrations.

"There's a group of people wanting to create chaos, but the government will do everything to restrain them," he told local television.

"If there's rioting, we will have to do something. I can affirm there will be no violence starting from the government's side," he said.

An earlier summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations had to be postponed due to the political protests which helped usher Mr Abhisit into power.

The country remains deeply divided between Mr Thaksin's followers among the urban and rural poor and his foes in the traditional power cliques of the military and bureaucracy.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7989048.stm

Should be interesting to see how the upcomming holiday will affect the turn out.

I see on the calendar that Songkran is from Monday the 13th. Which means that a lot of people will head for the provinces already on Friday the 10th.

yep, my question is where are these protests?

anyone know?

There's 6 current and ongoing threads discussing the protests. Do we really need another?

Anyone planning to come to Thailand in the near future to reconsider other destination.

Anyone already in thailand should consider getting out soon, before the airport is closed again.

Hope the give the PM better protection than they did in Pattaya, my opinion those old red shirts got much to close to the PM, when remember they(a red shirt mob) kill a PAD member(yellow shirt) back in Oct or Nov 08 in Isan(Udonthani). What get me is the police let his motorcade get stuck in traffic, from what I have seen in my long stay in the Kindgom they(the police) clear the street big time for VIPs. What happen in this case, I wonder?

Hope the give the PM better protection than they did in Pattaya, my opinion those old red shirts got much to close to the PM, when remember they(a red shirt mob) kill a PAD member(yellow shirt) back in Oct or Nov 08 in Isan(Udonthani). What get me is the police let his motorcade get stuck in traffic, from what I have seen in my long stay in the Kindgom they(the police) clear the street big time for VIPs. What happen in this case, I wonder?

Police clear street big time for Royals and everybody realated to the Royals; not VIP.

Hope the give the PM better protection than they did in Pattaya, my opinion those old red shirts got much to close to the PM, when remember they(a red shirt mob) kill a PAD member(yellow shirt) back in Oct or Nov 08 in Isan(Udonthani). What get me is the police let his motorcade get stuck in traffic, from what I have seen in my long stay in the Kindgom they(the police) clear the street big time for VIPs. What happen in this case, I wonder?

Police clear street big time for Royals and everybody realated to the Royals; not VIP.

They did for Thaksin, and his family.

Twice I was held up for almost an hour on the motorway whilst on my way to Pattaya, only to find that it was a motorcade with his daughters yellow f*cking V.W. Beetle going past.