Bangkok  - Thousands of protestors surrounded Government House in Bangkok for the second day Wednesday as others demonstrated outside the foreign ministry calling for the resignation of Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya.

The protests organized by the United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) were designed to embarrass the government of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva before its hosts the 14th Summit of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Friday to Sunday in Cha-am, 130 kilometres south-west of Bangkok.

But they did not prevent Abhisit from entering Government House Wednesday morning, although the weekly cabinet meeting was moved to Cha-am Tuesday.

"How long we continue to protest depends on the situation," UDD core leader Nattawudh Saikua said.

He said the protestors will not try to occupy Government House nor disrupt the ASEAN summit.

They are demanding the government bring leaders of the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) to trial, force Foreign Minister Kasit to resign, amend the 2007 constitution and dissolve parliament.

Kasit was a leader of the PAD, which protested for seven months against the previous government, including the occupation of Government House and shutting down of Bangkok's two airports between November 26 to December 3.

The UDD wants the PAD leadership prosecuted for illegally occupying state property and damaging the economy.

The PAD is staunchly anti-Thaksin Shinawatra, a billionaire businessman-turned-politician who was prime minister from 2001-06. Thaksin, who faces a two-year jail sentence for abuse of power, has been living in self-exile outside Thailand since August 2008.

He was ousted by a military coup on September 19, 2006, but his political allies returned to power in the guise of a newly created political party which won the December
23, 2007 general election.

Signs that Thaksin was maneuvering to return to power brought the PAD out onto the streets in May 2008, and they continued their protests until the party was dissolved by a Constitutional Court ruling on December 3, which found it guilty of committing fraud in the last polls.

The ruling paved the way for the Democrat Party, which came in second place in the 2007 polls, to form a new coalition government. The pro-Thaksin UDD insist the Democrat-led government lacks legitimacy since the Democrats did not win the largest number of seats in the last election. (dpa)