Large sections of Bangkok came to a standstill last night, as tens of thousands of anti-Thaksin Shinawatra demonstrators sealed off Rama I road, one of the city's main arteries, in a bid to increase the pressure on the caretaker premier to resign.

People lined up along the one-kilometre-long, six-lane Rama I, where the giant Siam Paragon shopping complex and two other large retail centres are situated.

The area echoed with the voices of the anti-Thaksin movement's main orators.

The rally, one of the biggest in the past several weeks, attracted huge numbers of people from all walks of life.

Also yesterday, about 7,000 anti-Thaksin demonstrators in the southern province of Chumphon formed a human blockade on the Phetkasem Highway, resulting in heavily congested southbound traffic.

Northbound traffic, however, was unaffected.

Protest leaders said the blockade would continue until caretaker premier Thaksin resigned.

The Chumphon incident in-tensified speculation about a large-scale, potentially violent boycott of Sunday's snap elec-

tion. Apart from being a stronghold of the opposition Democrats, the South, especially the four southernmost provinces, has become deeply resentful of the Thaksin government's iron-fisted efforts to tackle the separatist movement in the region.

Yesterday more than 4,000 Chulalongkorn University lecturers, students and alumni joined the Siam Paragon rally in the capital. Karina Chote-rawee, a lecturer at Chulalongkorn's faculty of arts, said Thaksin had lost his legitimacy to govern because of his lack of ethics.

Waratpong Tangsomboon, an alumnus, said the anti-Thaksin gathering showed that more and more people were finding their voices.

Previously the anti-Thaksin movement, grouped under the umbrella of the People's Alliance for Democracy, staged mass protests at Makkawan Rangsit Bridge.

Yesterday afternoon they regrouped at National Stadium and marched towards Rama I, establishing a stage near the upscale Siam Paragon shop-

ping mall. Siam Paragon and two other major malls were closed yesterday.

During their march demonstrators regularly shouted "Thaksin, Get Out" and danced to the tune of "Thaksin: the Square Face", a song that suggests the caretaker premier has been involved in abuse of power and corruption.

National flags, yellow headbands, wristbands, T-shirts and anti-Thaksin banners were everywhere.

Besides students and businesspeople, the crowd included farmers' groups, state-enterprise employees, teachers and office workers, along with many well-to-do high-society types.

Given the venue's location, teenagers with outlandish hairstyles dressed like Japanese youngsters in nearby Siam Square wondered what was going on and why the adults were cursing the premier, once labelled the most popular in Thailand's modern history.

As the sun set in the late afternoon, more and more people arrived on Rama I Road, many of them opting to use the Skytrain to get there.

Siam Paragon announced on Tuesday it would be closed for two days, until tomorrow. Siam Centre and Siam Discovery followed Paragon's lead. All said the closure was a simple matter of security.

Besides calling for Thaksin to quit, the PAD has petitioned His Majesty the King to appoint a prime minister to oversee amendments to the Constitution.

Suriyasai Katasila, a PAD leader, last night said the massive rally at Siam Paragon would stay on site overnight. At dawn, the crowd will be divided into two groups, one of which will march towards the nearby National Police headquarters and the other towards the Election Commission's headquarters, he said.

Weerayut Chokchaimadon

The Nation