Protesters besiege government offices in bangkok

one thousand of anti-government demonstrators besieged government business office on Tues and briefly shut down a telecasting station in some of the most aggressive actions in calendar month of street  protestation.

Organizers called it their "final war" in an attempt to bring down the authorities of Prime curate Samak Sundaravej, whom they accuse of corruptness and of being a proxy for the former prime curate, Thaksin Shinawatra.

An estimated 30,000 protesters gathered outside several government ministries and entered the land of the prime curate's business office. To avoid them, he moved a scheduled cabinet meeting to the armed forces central office.

Protesters often gathering outside the edifice, called authorities House, but seldom enter the land. The crowd, which did not effort to enter the edifice, appeared peaceful, television footage showed.

Samak said he would not be provoked and would continue to take a soft line with the protesters.

Continuing protestation by the same group, the People's confederation for Democracy, weakened Thaksin before he was removed in a coup in Sep 2006.

Thaksin is in Greater London, where he fled 10 days ago from Peking, to evade criminal prosecution in Kingdom of Thailand for corruptness cases. He is reported to have asked for political asylum jointly with his wife, Pojaman.

The couple left Kingdom of Thailand after Pojaman was sentenced on July 31 to three years in jail for tax equivocation. After attention the Olympic Games in Peking, they failed to tax return home for a scheduled court date.

The People's confederation - a loose group of pro-democracy advocates, anti-Thaksin forces and others with personal political docket - has accused Samak and his party of trying to amend the fundamental law to help Thaksin evade the corruptness complaint.

The authorities was elected in Dec, ending more than a year of armed forces rule. A shaky, fragmented six-party alliance, it is led by Thaksin's associates and is said to be following his directions.

The demonstrations appeared to be aimed at creating a chaotic situation that could provoke a violent crackdown and lead to turmoil and possibly strong military action.

Anupong Paochinda, the army chief general who was one of the leaders of the coup in 2006, asserted that the military would keep its hands off the  demonstrations.

"The army will not launch a coup," he said. "The people can be assured."

Dealing with the protests "is the police's job," he said.

Samak said he had placed the police under the direct command of the interior minister, Police General Kowit Wattana, but said he would not declare a state of emergency.

Speaking of the interior minister, he said, "It is my order to him to be soft and gentle. Ask them to come out. Soft and gentle. They want a spark. They want someone to hit someone. When they hear just one shot, they say, 'We won."'

But he also added: "The government's endurance has come to an end. The government has been patient and gentle all the time. I would like to tell the people who are out there, if you don't want yourself or your family to be in trouble, please go home."

Samak said that 85 people had been arrested in the demonstrations and that arrest warrants would be issued for five or six of the protest leaders.

At Government House, which houses the prime minister's office, the leader of the People's Alliance, Sonthi Limthongkul, a publisher and businessman who has feuded with Thaksin, responded with defiant words of his own.

"I won't leave until there is a political change," he said. "If you want me to leave, you will have to kill me and take my body out of here."

His next move was not clear, but the stated aim of the protests is to rid the government of Thaksin's influence.

Whatever happens, the country is likely to remain sharply divided between a royalist establishment and the pro-Thaksin forces, which have sought to control all levers of power.

The demonstrators started the day by storming the Thai state broadcaster NBT and briefly halting broadcasting by the station, which they accuse of favoring the Samak government. They were shown on television brandishing pistols, knives and golf clubs.

"They shouted, 'Get out, get out,' at us repeatedly," said a newscaster, Soifah Osukonthip. "All 150 of us were rounded up for a short while before police arrived and talked them down to the ground floor."

After a second raid, the staff fled to the Bangkok Traffic Police headquarters. Broadcasting resumed after about an hour.

Speaking in English to foreign reporters late in the afternoon, as demonstrators continued to blockade his office, Samak said, "Please feel for me, feel for my difficulties."