Protesters gather in Bangkok, PM says Asia summit on

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday an Asian summit would go ahead as planned in Thailand this week as demonstrators gathered in Bangkok for a mass rally with the objective of toppling him.

Supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a military coup in 2006, are assembling in at least three places in the capital, centered on Abhisit's offices at Government House, which they have surrounded since March 26.

Abhisit has avoided all confrontation with them and adopted the same tone on Wednesday as the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) summoned its supporters to Bangkok.

"There's a group of people wanting to create chaos, but the government will do everything to restrain them," he said in an interview on Channel 3 television.

"If there's rioting, we will have to do something. I can affirm there will be no violence starting from the government's side."

On Tuesday his car was attacked by red-shirted, pro-Thaksin supporters after a cabinet meeting in the resort town of Pattaya, which will also host a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and other Asian countries from Friday.

Abhisit insisted there was no threat to the summit.

"There won't be anything like what happened with my motorcade ... Every spot will have strict security. As for yesterday's chaos, it's because I wanted to travel normally, without disturbing people," he told the television interviewer.

The UDD says Abhisit is a pawn of the army, and that the army engineered his election as prime minister by parliament in December with the help of defectors from the previous pro-Thaksin government.

It says up to 300,000 people are expected to join the rally around Government House.

Another focus is the nearby residence of Prem Tinsulanonda, chief adviser to King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Thaksin has accused Prem of playing an active role in the 2006 coup that ousted him, an allegation the former army general and prime minister denies.

Abhisit made a televised statement on Monday night warning his government would use firm measures to prevent bloody confrontation between police and protesters.

He has stayed away from his office for the past two weeks, part of which he spent in London representing ASEAN at the G20 summit.

Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile. He was convicted on conflict of interest charges last year.

His absence has not ended long-running political unrest, with Bangkok's royalist, military and business elite, who accused Thaksin and his allies of corruption and abuse of power, pitted against the rural and urban poor who loved his populist policies.

(Reporting by Arada Therdthammakun and Bangkok bureau; Writing by Alan Raybould; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Terra/Reuters