Thais rally to "defend democracy"

Supporters of Thailand's beleaguered government today gathered in a mass protest on the outskirts of the capital Bangkok, in a show of determination to stall attempts by anti-government protestors to install an unelected prime minister.

They warned the country's judiciary and senate against any attempt to install an unelected prime minister, saying it would be a disaster for the nation that could spark civil war.

"This is a dictatorship that masquerades as a democracy," Sombat Thammasuk, a "red shirt" supporter of deposed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, said.

About 50,000 people had joined the rally and more were expected, security officials said, adding that they were planning to stay for days to press for an election.

A day after Shinawatra was thrown out of office an anti-corruption agency also indicted her for negligence over a rice subsidy scheme that ran up huge losses.

The upper house Senate is expected to impeach her for that, which would result in a five-year ban from politics.

The anti-government protesters had, on Wednesday, achieved a partial victory when the Constitutional Court ousted Shinawatra, for what it said violation of the constitution by transferring a senior civil servant. Nine other cabinet members were also forced from their posts.

Yingluck's supporters are protesting her removal which, they say, was a "judicial coup" on the lines of the military coup that ousted her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, in 2006.

Leader of the anti-government protestors and a former deputy prime minister in a government run by the pro-establishment Democrat Party, Suthep Thaugsuban, paraded his supporters on Bangkok's streets on Friday for what he said was a final push to get the government out.

He demanded installation of a "people's council" to oversee reforms aimed at excluding Thaksin from politics. He also wanted the caretaker government to go and a ''neutral'' prime minister be appointed before any fresh elections.

"The caretaker government is unlawful, which means at this stage, Thailand has no real government," Suthep had said at a rally.

He called on the Senate, the judiciary and Election Commission to appoint a neutral prime minister.

Thailand has long been split between the so-called royalists and supporters of former prime minister and telecommunications tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, whose sister Yingluck Shinawatra was ousted as prime minister on Wednesday.

Thaksin, who lives in self-exile to avoid a jail term handed down in 2008 for corruption, has been a major influence over his sister's government.

Thaksin and his party enjoys mass support and the party had won every election since 2001. But his enemies say he is corrupt and buys votes and they want new rules for election before the next polls.

Thailand's powerful army, however, has been staying out of the turmoil but substantial violence could trigger military intervention.

Thailand's King Bhumibol Adulyadej, 86, had stepped in to defuse previous crises but has not commented on the latest crisis so far.