BANGKOK, January 31 (SPA) - About 5,000 Thai police took uppositions around Government House in Bangkok on Saturday aheadof a rally by anti-government protesters, Reuters reported. Metropolitan police chief Lieutenant-General SuchartMuenkaew said the protesters would not be allowed to storm thecompound, as happened with an opposing protest group in August,but police would not use force. "We will negotiate with them and won't use weapons," hetold reporters, adding that army officers would be on hand tomonitor the rally of the United Front for Democracy againstDictatorship (UDD), which said it expected to attract 20,000supporters. By late afternoon, about 10,000 red-shirted UDD, most ofwhom supported ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, hadgathered at Sanun Luang, a large public square in front of theglittering spires of Bangkok's Grand Palace. Protest leaders said they planned a march to GovernmentHouse in the evening to demand the resignation of the DemocratParty-led government headed by Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva that came to power last month after the courts dissolved its pro-Thaksin predecessor. "We will not intrude into the Government House compound. After we declare our standpoints, we will disband and leave. Wewill not stay there overnight," Chatuporn Prompan, a UDDleader, said.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/631237