Thousands of anti-coup demonstrators rallied in central Bangkok Thursday after the country's Constitutional Tribunal ordered the former ruling party Thai Rak Thai (TRT) to disband in a landmark verdict Wednesday.

Some 1,000 demonstrators, began to gather after 4:00 PM (09:00GMT) Thursday around the Royal Plaza, a venue for many state activities and also a popular demonstration site. By 7:00 PM (12:00 GMT), the number of people who took part in the rally had grown to at least 6,000. The organizers, from the People's Television (PTV), a satellite television station set up by some former TRT members, put the number at 10,000.

The demonstrators were rallying at the outlying area surrounding the Royal Plaza. They were blocked from entering the Plaza by barricades set up and guarded by a few hundred policemen.

They were seen waiving and yelling out slogans against the military-led Council for National Security (CNS), which ousted then prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, founder of the TRT party, on Sept. 19 last year in a coup d'etat.

Most of the protestors were wearing yellow headbands, with the slogan "Get out, CNS" in Thai language on it. Some burned picture of Privy Council president General Prem Tinsulanonda, whom anti-coup protesters said were behind the Sept. 19 coup.

Small skirmish occurred during the early hours of the demonstration between the police and the protestors, when some protestors tried to remove the barricades.

The small clash ended soon after PTV organizers were seen calming down the emotional protestors, who retreated back behind the barricades. No injury was reported.

In the evening, several military trucks arrived near the demonstration scene with dozens of soldiers.

Police had previously closed traffic around the Royal Plaza to obstruct possible mass rallies at the site as threatened by supporters of the TRT, which was ordered to disband in a verdict handed down by the Constitutional Tribunal late Wednesday night.

The verdict, which took the judges at the Constitutional Tribunal about five hours to read Wednesday night, held TRT guilty of several electoral fraud charges and thus sentenced it to dissolve.

The party's former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and 110 present and former party executives, were also banned from seeking political posts for five years.

A few hours before TRT's ill fate was announced, the Democrat Party got acquittal from the Tribunal on all electoral fraud charges in a separate ruling just as lengthy.

Both TRT's former leader Thaksin, now in exile abroad, and acting party leader Chaturon Chaisaeng had called on more than 14 million party members and its supporters to keep calm after receiving the verdict.

However, Chaturon called the verdict "unfair" and "unacceptable".

Chaturon said Thursday that the disbanded party would ask the Election Commission on Monday to reserve the old name Thai Rak Thai for registration for a new party.

Security was tight in Bangkok Wednesday, with over 130,000 soldiers and police were dispatched in and around the capital to control any possible disturbance.

The CNS chairman Sonthi Boonyarakatlin and Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont had said an emergency rule could be announced in the capital if situation turned violent in wake of the verdicts.

However, the lengthy process of reading the two verdicts involving the Democrat, TRT and several smaller parties, which last nearly 12 hours from 1:30 PM (06:30 GMT) till midnight, had virtually prevented any unrest from being staged on the day.

On Thursday, security authorities, remained alert as anti-coup groups like PTV announced plans to rally in downtown Bangkok from the afternoon.

Metropolitan police chief Adisorn Nontree called an urgent meeting of police commanders Thursday to beef up security ahead of the rally.

PTV executive Aree Krainara was quoted by local media as saying that he personally thought that the ruling against TRT was unfair and accused the Council for National Security of having interfered in the Tribunal's decision.

The demonstration at the Royal Plaza and nearby areas continued into late night. The organizers have threatened to go on with more protests if the CNS would not step down.

Sonthi on Thursday warned Chaturon not to incite unrest, as the CNS chairman ordered the army to closely watch the rally.

(Xinhua News Agency June 1, 2007)