Government Rejects UDD Demands

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban on Sunday dismissed an ultimatum by protesters who demanded the government step down by Feb 15, raising the prospect of more political turmoil.

Mr Suthep said that supporters of ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra were free to demonstrate again, but insisted the new Democrat Party-led government would stay in office.

"This is not the time for the dissolution of parliament," he told reporters. "People want the government to go ahead with administering the country."

About 30,000 Thaksin sympathisers clad in their signature red shirts and waving banners reading "Bring Back Democracy" marched to Government House late on Saturday night.

Protest leaders say they will return to the streets in 15 days unless Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya and other figures linked to the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) airport blockade last year are prosecuted.

They also called for the dissolution of parliament, new elections and the reinstatement of the 1997 constitution.

"The demand to bring back the 1997 constitution within 15 days, it is impossible," said Suthep.

He praised Mr Kasit for doing a "good job."

Supporters of the PPP and the fugitive Thaksin decry the move as a "silent coup".

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva further enraged the red shirts with the appointment of Mr Kasit, a vocal PAD supporter, as foreign minister, while two other PAD sympathisers have been selected as government advisers. (AFP)