Thailand protests hit police headquarters

Airport and rail services disrupted

BANGKOK - Protesters trying to overthrow Thailand's government attacked Bangkok's police headquarters yesterday as demonstrations against Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej spread from the capital, disrupting air and rail services.

About 30 people were injured after police repelled a crowd of about 2,000 on a fourth day of protests. The demonstrations have raised fears of major violence and military intervention less than two years after a coup in September 2006.

Television footage showed tear-gas canisters exploding among the protesters, but police denied using them, saying they had only fired rubber bullets.

Protesters also invaded runways or blocked roads at three southern airports, including the tourist island of Phuket, leaving scores of passengers stranded as flights were suspended. Striking rail workers halted 30 percent of services nationwide, and unionized airline and port workers were urged by their leaders to take sick leave.

In Bangkok, where about 30,000 protesters have occupied the prime minister's compound since Tuesday, some of Samak's advisers are calling on him to impose emergency rule, two government sources said.

Samak, who leads a shaky coalition government elected in December, declined to get tough with the protesters ahead of a royal event today, but did not rule out such action if the rioting worsens.

"I have several tools at my disposal, but I am not using any of them because I want to keep things calm," he told reporters after meeting top military and police officers.

"I will not quit. If you want me out, do it by law, not by force." Samak added.

Imposing a state of emergency would allow Samak to deploy soldiers to disperse the protesters, although army chief Anupong Paochinda said the situation did not warrant it.

"A coup would not solve anything. It will hurt the country's image and worsen the country's situation," he said, nearly two years after the coup that removed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra but failed to heal the divisions in Thai society.

Sompop Manarungsan, an analyst at Chulalongkorn University, said Samak had few options but to resign or call an early election.

"If he doesn't quit over the next two days, it is very likely that we will see a bloodbath," Sompop said.

The protests are led by the People's Alliance for Democracy, a group of businessmen, academics, and activists who accuse Samak of being an illegitimate proxy of Thaksin, now in exile in London. Samak denies the accusation.

The group proclaims itself to be a defender of revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej against a supposed Thaksin plan to turn Thailand into a republic, a charge vehemently denied by both Thaksin and the government.

Thai shares have fallen 23 percent since the group's street campaign began in May amid fears of policy paralysis at a time of stuttering economic growth and soaring inflation.

The group's assault on police headquarters came hours after riot officers tried to deliver an eviction order and clashed with demonstrators inside the prime minister's compound.