Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej vowed on Saturday not to quit in the face of intensifying protests aimed at toppling his seven-month-old government. Speaking at an official event in front of thousands of supporters, Samak said he had requested an audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej to brief him on the political situation as the occupation of Government House moved into its fifth day. Samak said he had been constitutionally elected in December and would never bow to the demands from the protesters, who are adamant they will remain camped out inside the PM's official compound until his government falls. “I will never resign in response to these threats,” he said, to roars of applause. “I came to this job under a legal mandate. I will only go if the law does not allow me to stay and not simply because someone issues threats and puts pressure on me.” Later, one of the protest leaders, Sondhi Limtongkul, reiterated his pledge not to give up until Samak, whom he accuses of being an illegitimate proxy of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was out of office. Although the atmosphere was calmer on Saturday than the day before, when police fired teargas and rubber bullets to repel an assault on their Bangkok headquarters, nobody knows how the deadlock will be broken. Possible scenarios involve Samak resigning, a military coup, a police crackdown on the protests, a snap election, or even intervention by the King, who has stepped into several political disputes during his 60-year rule but only after bloodshed. “This is a see-saw battle. It goes back and forth, and we don't know how it will end,” Thitinan Pongsudhirak of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University said. Even though Samak appears to be on the back foot, Thitinan said he retained two powerful cards in the form of a good working relationship with the army and closer ties to the palace than any prime minister in the last 20 years.
