Former senator Kraisak Chonhavan shows bruises on his arm which he said came from an attack by protesters at the anti-coup rally on Saturday night.

Former senator Kraisak Chonhavan said yesterday he had been assaulted by protesters at the anti-coup rally on Saturday night, and accused the organisers of inciting violence with ulterior motives.

"I've never encountered this kind of incident ... None of the demonstrations against the government saw demonstrators use violence as happened last night," Kraisak said at a press conference.

"The leaders of the demonstration did not try to stop the attackers but apparently incited the use of force. So, I would say that the organisers were irresponsible and tried to incite violence."

Kraisak said he went to observe the demonstration by the so-called pro-democracy front against dictatorship in front of the Army headquarters because he noticed that a lot of people were taking part.

Kraisak said he sympathised with the many former Thai Rak Thai executives who were banned from politics for five years although they had not done anything wrong personally, and he wanted to see whether the protest was related to the ban or not.

He said he was speaking to foreign reporters at the rally site when someone shouted at him through a megaphone to leave the rally and go home.

He said he walked up to the man and told him that he simply wanted to hear the speakers at the rally but, as he was explaining this, a group of young men started kicking and punching him and throwing things at him.

He was rescued by some policemen, but would not file a complaint against his attackers, he said.

Kraisak said the organisers of the protest were not fighting for democracy or for justice for former Thai Rak Thai executives.

"I believe the demonstrations by this group have other, ulterior motives, and I believe that future rallies could lead to danger," he said.

Kraisak said his assault might be related to trips that he and other former senators had made to talk to the media and Thai students abroad about the human rights violations by the Thaksin Shinawatra government.

Members of the Shinawatra family had tried to prevent them from making these trips on grounds the former prime minister had given up politics.

Also speaking at the press conference, former senator Maleerat Kaewka advised people planning join the anti-government rallies not do so because the organisers could not control the situation.

Former Yasothon senator Somboon Thongburan said he had received calls from the northeastern province to say canvassers had hired villagers to take part in the rallies for Bt200 a day. The villagers were being provided with accommodation, food and travel, he said.

Somboon said he feared the protest organisers might try to create a situation by having an untoward incident, like a bombing, occur so the government would have to declare state of emergency.

He said Thaksin could then cite the state of emergency to seek political asylum and avoid having to return to the country to face corruption charges.