Don't leave me 'dying in desert', Thaksin tells Thai rally

Ousted former Thailand premier Thaksin Shinawatra urged his supporters not to leave him "dying in the desert" of Dubai as he made an impassioned address to a rally in Bangkok yesterday.

The fugitive politician, who is living in exile to avoid a jail sentence for corruption, made a 50-minute telephone address to tens of thousands of anti-government protesters who gathered despite heavy rain in the Thai capital.

"We come here because we want to see real democracy. We hate injustice and double standards", Thaksin told the cheering red-clad crowd, which numbered 25,000 according to police estimates.

"I am fine and doing some business and travelling around but I am really lonely, I want to go back," Thaksin said. "Why do you have to leave me dying in the desert when I can work for our country?"

Appealing to his grassroots support base in the poorer north of Thailand, Thaksin said the government of premier Abhisit Vejjajiva should wipe out household debt and attacked its record on the economy.

"This government is good for three things: borrowing, hiking taxes and hounding Thaksin", the exiled media tycoon said.

The crowd of 'Red Shirt' protesters in the historic quarter of Bangkok made up the biggest anti-government rally since bloody riots erupted two months ago.

Protest leader Jatuporn Prompan said it would organise three more gatherings, without saying when they may be.

"They (the government) hoped they had wiped out the Red Shirts after the last crackdown but instead we are getting stronger and red over Thailand," said Jatuporn.

He repeated the group's demands to a jubilant crowd - that Abhisit must dissolve parliament and call fresh elections - and berated royal adviser Prem Tinsulanonda, whom they accuse of instigating the 2006 coup that ousted Thaksin.

The group have said they will stay at the site until dawn today but have promised a peaceful demonstration.

Police said more than 3,000 officers and 1,000 soldiers were on hand to guard government offices and search the crowd for trouble-makers.