The teacher councils at the university's Hat Yai, Trang, Phuket and Surat Thani campuses agreed they would fight by all peaceful means to oust Thaksin, said Hat Yai campus teachers' council president Boonreung Manasurakan.

Although Thaksin is now acting prime minister, the group will continue to call for him to step down as the country does not need Thaksin, whose legitimacy to govern has long evaporated, Boonreung said.

The group also wants to push for structural reform of the constitution, the liberation of independent agencies from government influence and the establishment of a body to check on the conduct and honesty of national politicians.

Boonreung said he suspected Thaksin had dissolved the House in the hope of returning to power again by using the Bt73 billion his family had gained from the Shin Corp stocks sale.

The only way, though, was for Thaksin to resign, he said, and political reform could be done by a constitution-amending assembly to make Thailand's democracy more complete.  He said that despite the House dissolution the political atmosphere would not cool yet as Thaksin still blamed the people and was seeking credit for himself.

Meanwhile, Some 200 members of the Satun Santi Dharma group vowed to continue their quest to oust Thaksin from politics, brushing off the snap election decision as another trick by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

Yesterday morning the group handed out hundreds of copies of its statement before moving to Sanam Luang in the afternoon in preparation for today's antigovernment rally.

Representatives said they opposed the premier's decision to dissolve the House, labelling it an attempt to wriggle out of the crisis. The group vowed to continue its action, calling for a probe into Thaksin's alleged corruption and for political reforms to safeguard against future abuse and announcing its intention to increase people's participation in politics.

The Nation

Songkhla