August 30, 2008	Saturday	Sha'aban 27, 1429

BANGKOK, Aug 29: Protesters trying to overthrow Thailand’s government attacked Bangkok’s police headquarters on Friday as demonstrations against Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej spread from the capital, disrupting air and rail services.

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

TV footage showed teargas canisters exploding among the protesters, but police denied using them, saying that 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 per cent of services nationwide, and unionised airline and port workers were urged by their leaders to take sick leave.

In Bangkok, where protesters have occupied the prime minister’s compound since Tuesday, some of Samak’s advisers pushed him to impose emergency rule, two government sources said.

But Samak, who leads a shaky coalition government elected in December, declined to get tough with the protesters ahead of a royal event on Saturday.

“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. This is embarrassing in front of the world,” Samak said.

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.—Reuters