Bangkok  - Thailand's fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra has rejected a government offer of reconciliation talks, asking instead for a massive show of protest support, media reports said Saturday.

Thaksin used a video link to tell a protest rally in Bangkok that negotiations were impossible because the future of the country was as stake.

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said Friday he would welcome any moves to defuse political tensions with mediated talks, and Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban had earlier offered to talk to Thaksin personally.

"There was a rumour that someone has negotiated with me. That's not true. My movement is not for myself but the country's democracy, so I will not negotiate," Thaksin said, the Bangkok Post reported.

The protestors want to unseat the government and force powerful officials from the political scene whom they claim were behind the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin, who is in self-imposed exile to evade a two-year prison sentence for abuse of power.

His followers plan to march on the monarchy's Privy Council chief Prem Tinsulanonda's house on Wednesday to demand his resignation for being an alleged mastermind behind the coup.

Thaksin's supporters dress in red to distinguish themselves from the yellow-clad movement that helped bring down a Thakin-backed government last year.

Independent observers say the Red Shirts have shown Thaksin to be still popular with many Thais, but will find it hard to unseat a government supported by the powerful military establishment that mostly distrusts Thaksin. (dpa)