Bangkok - The Thai cabinet approved Tuesday the use of the Internal Security Act that permits the military to crack down on planned protests in Bangkok if they get out of hand. Thousands of supporters of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra are expected to descend on the capital Saturday, for what their leaders called "the final battle" to oust the government they claim is illegitimate.
Thaksin's supporters in April succeeded in stopping a meeting of the Association of South-East Asian Nations with regional leaders at a seaside resort. They also went on a violent rampage in the streets of Bangkok.
Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is responsible for internal security, said invoking emergency powers was "regrettably necessary" because some protestors have shown an inclinations to violence.
"We have no problems with peaceful protests but some people may want a confrontation, this is something that we cannot allow," Suthep told reporters after the cabinet meeting.
A decision over whether to also extend the security law to the northern capital Chiang Mai during a visit by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajeva on Sunday is still under consideration. Thaksin loyalists there have threatened to physically prevent Abhisit from meeting local businessmen and some have allegedly threatened his life in warnings conveyed over opposition radio stations.
Protest leaders claimed that a million people would join their demonstration in Bangkok, but the Bangkok Post newspaper cited intelligence sources as saying that 40,000 were expected, while about 5,000 were prepared to confront the prime minister in Chiang Mai.
Thaksin loyalists claim that Abhisit's Democrat Party controls a coalition majority in parliament because of an elite conspiracy to destroy the fugitive former premier and his political machine, in spite of his popularity with a large segment of rural poor.
The Bangkok protests are scheduled to run for several days with a break for King Bhumibol Adulyadej's birthday on December 5.
The timing of the events is controversial even among some of the activists who worry about being seen as disrespectful to the revered monarch. Analysts said it suggests that Thaksin is impatient to force confrontation, and resolve his fugitive status.
He was sentenced to two years jail in Thailand for abuse of power as prime minister, when his wife bought prime real estate in central Bangkok from the state at a cheap price. Other corruption cases against him are being processed.
