Samak explains the situation to foreign reporters

"They want bloodshed in the country. They want the military to come out and stage a coup again," Samak told a group of foreign journalists yesterday.

The People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), which has been protesting since May, accused Samak of being a proxy of former PM Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a coup on September 19, 2006.

"My feeling is it's a group of people - five or six people - they don't like the former prime minister, they don't like me, and up to now they have wanted to overthrow the government, which is illegal," Samak said.

Despite the fact that the bulk of the politicians under his People Power Party were members of Thaksin's now-defunct Thai Rak Thai Party, Samak said he did not understand why they linked him with Thaksin.

Samak said he would seek the arrest of five or six key PAD leaders and vowed to starve out the demonstrators, using "a soft and gentle approach" to get them to leave the Government House compound.

Earlier, the premier said he would use "all means" to clear the streets.