Armed troops were on stand-by in Thailand today to protect a summit of Asian leaders from demonstrators who are fighting to bring down the country’s Government.

Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thailand's British-born Prime Minister, said that he would not break up the huge rallies calling for his resignation, but his deputy said that the Army was on stand-by to back up police guarding the East Asia Summit, which begins tomorrow in the resort town of Pattaya.

The leaders of China, Japan and Australia, as well as India, South Korea and the South-East Asian nations will meet to discuss the world economic crisis and responses to last Sunday’s rocket launch by North Korea. But the event is in danger of being overshadowed by the latest episode in the political chaos that has beset Thailand for the past three years.

On Tuesday, demonstrators smashed the windows of Mr Abhisit’s car close to the venue for this weekend’s summit. The Prime Minister said that his Government was reassuring foreign governments about security for the summit, but acknowledged the ugliness of the situation.

“My standpoint remains the same: the rally can continue as long as they act within the framework of the law,” Mr Abhisit said.

The anti-Government demonstrations, by supporters of the ousted prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, escalated yesterday when a crowd of as many as 100,000 people marched through Bangkok, and then gathered in front of the home of the chief aide to the country’s king, Bhumibol Adulyadej.

They accused him of orchestrating the military coup that drove Mr Thaksin into exile in 2006. “Stop pulling strings from behind the scenes for the benefit of a few people you support at the expense of the majority,” shouted Jatuporn Phromphan, one of the leaders of the pro-Thaksin United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, known as the Red Shirts. “We will not tolerate that!”

Many Thais assume that the generals who carried out the coup must have had the tacit approval of King Bhumibol. The demonstration against the King's aide comes close to reproach of the monarchy itself, a serious crime in Thailand.

Mr Thaksin addressed the crowd via a loudspeaker telephone link from an unspecified foreign location, probably Dubai. “Tell your children to come,” he urged the crowd. “Stop going to the mall for a couple of days and lay the foundation for future generations. I do not care whether I can return, I do not care. [But] I cannot allow the country to go on like this. Let me be the last victim of the brutality of the bureaucratic polity.”

The billionaire tycoon, who made his fortune in telecommunications, was the most popular, but also the most divisive, prime minister that Thailand has had. His village health care schemes and programme of cheap loans won him the loyalty of rural voters, and carried him to three successive election victories.

Many Thais, especially the urban middle class, abhorred him, however, accusing him of using the vast wealth he acquired as a businessman to corrupt the country’s institutions. Last year, he was convicted of using his position as prime minister to influence a property deal that benefited his ex-wife, and was sentenced to two years' imprisonment.

After the coup, his friends and supporters were re-elected until they were forced from power last year by a court ruling which followed months of violent demonstrations by the People’s Alliance for Democracy, or Yellow Shirts. The PAD occupied the Prime Minister’s office, and even forced the closure of Bangkok’s international airport, seemingly with the passive co-operation of the police and army. This weekend’s summit was to have taken place in December last year but had to be cancelled because of the political chaos.

Mr Abhisit took advantage of the situation to create a coalition, including former allies of Mr Thaksin, which propelled his Democrat Party into government. Now he is facing the same situation that helped to drive the former pro-Thaksin government from power – street demonstrations so huge and unruly that they disrupt the day-to-day business of government.

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