The angry prime minister cut short his visit of an exhibition to honour His Majesty the King after some 20 to 30 protesters kept on shouting abuses against him.

Before leaving in his car, Thaksin strongly criticized the protesters as "lacking developed mind" and asked officials to take legal action against them.

The clash and exchange of verbal attacks between the groups of supporters and protesters happened at about 2 pm and last about 20 minutes.

The fight came after Thaksin chaired a ceremony to launch books and CDs in memory of the celebration of the 60th anniversary of His Majesty the King's Accession to the Throne in the shopping mall.

While Thaksin was visiting the exhibition, a woman stepped on his foot twice and he asked his bodyguard to watch out against the woman.

"Please check if she is insane or not. She stepped on my foot twice already," Thaksin told his bodyguards.

While Thaksin was continuing seeing the exhibition, some 20 to 30 people, shouted "Thaksin is bad, Thaksin cheats, Thaksin get out."

The prime minister was seen apparently startled and turned to look at the protesters.

His bodyguards then tried to lead Thaksin to leave the shopping mall, but a group of his supporters charged toward the protesters.

The supporters and Thaksin's bodyguards tried to ask the protesters to stop shouting but they kept on shouting criticism against Thaksin.

At the moment, a university student shouted "You cheat the country" and some three to four supporters charged toward him and hit and kicked him until he fell down.

The protesters then helped pulled the student away.

Another woman, who carried her young daughter, also shouted "Thaksin cheats" and she was pushed backed by Thaksin's bodyguard, causing her to nearly fall down.

Some observers also shouted "We are Thais. Why did you do this in exhibition to honour His Majesty?"

The protesters then started retreating and walked away and shouted abuses against from afar.

They later walked down the escalator and kept on shouting criticism against Thaksin from a lower floor.

At the same time, Thaksin's supporters shouted back at them and asked the protesters to go home.

The protesters later left the shopping mall and the confusion ended.

While Thaksin was leaving, a group of supporters surrounded him and kept on shouting "Thaksin Figt On" until he reached his car.

The supporters waited there and kept on cheering Thaksin while he was giving interview to reporters.

Before leaving in his car, Thaksin told reporters that the tussle should not have happened during the important exhibition.

"These people do not have developed mind. They showed what was undemocratic behaviour," Thaksin said.

He said the protesters should have waited until October 15 to express their dislike against him by not voting for him.

The Nation