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PATTAYA, THAILAND - Hundreds of Thai anti-government protesters Friday reached a hotel hosting a major Asian summit after breaking through a final security cordon, AFP reporters said.
The demonstrators were part of a group of about 1,000 supporters of fugitive former premier Thaksin Shinawatra that gathered in the resort town of Pattaya shortly after the meeting with 15 foreign nations began.
The main crowd briefly clashed with police before a smaller number forced their way through a group of soldiers deployed about 500m from the luxury hotel.
Television footage had shown riot police and red-shirted protesters angrily pushing each other on a road leading to the hotel in the first major confrontation since mass protests began three days ago in Bangkok.
The demonstrators shouted slogans against current premier Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has resisted calls to step down and order early elections.
"Abhisit get out! If this government does not accept our demands we will not go home," shouted the protesters.
"We will go peacefully to the hotel, we will not damage anything, any government property. But we have to show the world that this government is not democratic," protest leader Arismun Pongreungrong told AFP.
The government hardened its stance on Friday, saying that it wanted to prosecute the leaders of the protests which have posed the biggest challenge yet to Abhisit's four-month-old administration.
Abhisit said late Thursday that he had boosted security in Pattaya for the summit, which groups the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) with China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
Tens of thousands of protesters have massed in Bangkok since Wednesday in the biggest rallies since Abhisit came to power in December following a court ruling that forced Thaksin's political allies from government.
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