Bangkok protests to continue

Anti-government protesters in Thailand's capital announced they would continue their demonstrations at a new location Monday after paralyzing Bangkok's downtown commercial core over the weekend.

The protesters, whose numbers have peaked at about 100,000, forced at least six upscale shopping malls to close, while downtown luxury hotels beefed up security.

Bangkok has been the scene of similar demonstrations the last four weekends, but this was the most disruptive yet.

Theprotesters mainly poor, rural citizens known as the Red Shirts began their sit-in on Saturday and vowed they wouldn't leave until Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva dissolves parliament and calls new elections.

Supporters of ex-prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra and pro-democracy activists are feeling emboldened after scoring a couple of victories since the protests began, observers say.

First, they forced Abhisit to the negotiating table last weekend. They also won what they consider to be a major concession from him: he agreed there will be elections and that he will dissolve parliament before the end of the year.

But protesters, opposed to a 2006 military coup thatousted Thaksin, want Abhisit to resign and call elections immediately to ensure that Thailand once again has a democratically elected government.

The Red Shirts' decision to vacate the commercial district appeared to head off a confrontation with government forces, who said they were prepared to use tough measures to clear protesters from the affected downtown areas.

Jatuporn Prompan, a protest leader, said Sunday evening that the demonstrators would move to an undisclosed location in the morning.

An army spokesperson warned the Red Shirts not to enter other nearby business or residential areas and said the government has barred them from 11 major streets in the capital.