Thai PM orders riot police to remove protesters

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej has ordered thousands of riot police to move an anti-government crowd occupying his office compound yesterday, his spokesman said.

"The Prime Minister said it has to end today," Samak's chief spokesman Wichianchot Sukchotrat told reporters. "Thousands of police will be deployed to move the protesters out of the Government House."

Wichianchot said police would try to persuade the thousands of demonstrators to leave the lawn of Government House, normally the nerve center of the Thai administration, but if violence flared it would be met with "decisive actions".