Thailand's politicians have been unable to forge a compromise over a nearly decade-long split between the royalist establishment and a populist former telecommunications tycoon, whose sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, was ousted as prime minister on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.
Supporters of Thailand's government gathered on Saturday on the outskirts of Bangkok, saying they were determined to safeguard democracy as rival anti-government protesters pressed their campaign in the city, the AP reported.
A government security official said about 50,000 people had joined the rally and more were expected, according to the AP.
Yingluck's supporters have derided her removal as a "judicial coup," and her brother, former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was ousted in a military coup in 2006, according to the AP.
Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban, a former deputy premier in a government run by the pro-establishment Democrat Party, called his supporters out onto Bangkok's streets on Friday for what he says will be a final push to get the government out, the AP reported.
He then wants to install a "people's council" to oversee reforms aimed at excluding Thaksin from politics, according to the AP.
"The caretaker government is unlawful, which means at this stage, Thailand has no real government," Suthep told reporters at a rally, the AP reported. He called on the upper house Senate, the judiciary and Election Commission to appoint a neutral prime minister.
Suthep's supporters held rallies and blocked some roads on Saturday but there were no reports of violence, according to the AP. Both the pro- and anti-government camps have armed activists within their ranks and the rival protests this weekend, even though they are far apart, have raised fears of trouble
A day after Yingluck was thrown out of office she was indicted by an anti-corruption agency for negligence over a rice subsidy scheme that ran up huge losses, the AP reported. The upper house Senate is expected to impeach her for that, which would result in a five-year ban from politics.
Yingluck's Puea Thai party still runs a caretaker government and is hoping to organize a July 20 election that it would probably win, according to the AP.
Anti-government protesters want the government out, the election postponed and reforms to end Thaksin's influence, the AP reported.
