Razor wire and little old ladies keep Thai police at bay

By Ed Cropley

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand's Prime Minister has threatened force to remove protesters besieging Government House, although the sheer weight of numbers would be likely to make it a bloody and therefore politically suicidal operation.

Marshalled by retired general Chamlong Srimuang, who led a 1992 "people power" uprising against army rule, the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) has done everything but dig trenches in the flower beds to consolidate its grip on Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's front lawn.

Makeshift barricades of car tires, crash barriers, razor wire and pot plants block all roads leading to the PM's compound, creating a secure zone in the heart of the capital where the anti-government forces dictate who comes and goes.

In scenes more reminiscent of a Woodstock rock festival than a would-be revolution, tens of thousands of people camped out inside the zone on Wednesday night, listening to folk music and vitriol against Samak and his elected government.

PAD marshals manned the checkpoints, checking bags for weapons in accordance with the group's stated aim of non-violent protest against what it says is an illegitimate proxy for Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted as premier in a bloodless coup in 2006.

Nearby, in the shadows, lurked small gangs of partially masked men, armed with sticks and golf clubs.

The main problem for the security forces if they did decide to storm the area and exercise arrest warrants on the group's leaders would be the mass of people, many of them middle-aged women, in their way.

With the domestic media and the PAD's own TV crews leaping into action at the first hint of trouble, the authorities are well aware of the potential for a public relations catastrophe.

"The police are in a tough position. If they bring in armor or anything like that to crash a gate, it's going to look like the September 2006 coup times three," Brian Dougherty, a Bangkok-based security consultant for Hill and Associates said.

"The logical non-violent solution would be simply to seal off the area and deny them any food and water. Ultimately, Chamlong and company can't look at 60- or 70-year-old supporters and say 'Sorry, there's no food, but hang in there.'"

"TOO DANGEROUS"

Despite his record as an instigator of a bloody crackdown on left-wing students in 1976, Samak has blown hot and cold against the protest, threatening variously the "full force of the police", a siege, or nothing at all.

On Thursday, he said police would not go in to break up the protest. "It will be too dangerous," he told reporters from his temporary headquarters in a military compound in a north Bangkok.

The climb-down only intensified speculation that Samak and the government are under pressure from anonymous PAD backers thought to come from the anti-Thaksin business elite, army or even the palace.

Revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who is officially above politics but who has intervened several times on a variety of sides during his six decades on the throne, has made no public pronouncements since the PAD launched its assault on Tuesday.