Protesters Occupy PM Compound, Clash With Police

Several thousand Thai protesters began a second day occupying the prime minister's compound in Bangkok on Wednesday after 15 people were injured in early morning clashes with riot police.

Thousands of royalist protesters stormed the Government House compound, a state TV station and several ministries on Tuesday in a coordinated bid to unseat the elected seven-month-old coalition government of Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej.

The protesters called for more people to join them on Wednesday, using their own radio station to broadcast their appeal.

Samak has urged the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) protesters to pack up and go home, accusing them of breaking the law after three months of hitherto peaceful demonstrations in central Bangkok.

But PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul, speaking to several thousand supporters on the Government House lawn on Tuesday, vowed to stay until the government fell.

The PAD accuse Samak of being an illegitimate proxy of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra and seeking to turn Thailand into a republic, which Samak denies.

Early on Wednesday, hundreds of riot police clashed briefly with the protesters when the police were changing shifts inside Government House at 3 a.m. (1700 GMT Tuesday).

Police with batons and shields were pushing and clubbing some protesters, television footage showed.

Injured protesters had cuts on their arms or heads, but no major injuries were reported, protest leader Suriyasai Katasila told media.

About 1,000 police remain in the compound, some in groups in the middle of the crowd, others scattered among the buildings but not intervening.

The military has vowed not to intervene in the latest protests.

Samak, speaking to reporters after his weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday, made no mention of any need to impose emergency rule, but national police spokesman Surapol Thuanthong said police would seek court approval on Wednesday to arrest the PAD leaders after they ignored an order to leave by 6 p.m. (1100 GMT).

The latest disruption to the government at a time of stuttering growth and decade-high inflation was the last thing the economy needed, analysts said.

The stock market fell as much as 2.5 percent on Tuesday amid fears of violence. It has shed nearly 23 percent since the PAD, a group of monarchist businessmen and academics, launched its campaign to unseat the government on May 25.