This article is more than 12 years old

This article is more than 12 years old

Anti-government protesters have stormed the compound of Thailand's prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, as part of demonstrations across Bangkok today aimed at forcing his resignation.

The rightwing People's Alliance for Democracy is behind the protests and shut down the National Broadcasting Services of Thailand TV channel with a pre-dawn raid on the main studios of the government-operated station.

"We are now controlling most of the key government offices to prevent them from coming to work," said Sondhi Limthongkul, a leader of the alliance.

"Today we declare a long, long holiday for the government."

The group's strategy appears to be to provoke a violent crackdown by the government, with the aim of winning public sympathy and perhaps compelling the army to step in to restore order.

General Anupong Paochinda, the country's army chief, said the military would not stage a coup and the crisis could be solved politically.

After the government was forced to move its weekly cabinet meeting to a military compound, Samak appeared on television to warn that his patience was running out. He said his interior minister had been given direct control of the police to "bring the situation back to normal".

The People's Alliance for Democracy, which aligns itself with conservative factions of the monarchy and military, says Samak is a proxy for the former prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra.

Thaksin, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup over alleged corruption and abuse of power, is in self-imposed exile in England.

The alliance has accused Samak of trying to amend the constitution to help Thaksin avoid corruption charges. It accuses the government of failing to aggressively prosecute cases against Thaksin and refusing calls to extradite him to face court.

The movement wants to replace the country's electoral democracy with a system that would be dominated by appointees from the bureaucracy and the military. It claims the country's rural majority is not sophisticated enough to choose good public servants.