The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Bangkok

Anti-government protesters Wednesday vowed to renew demonstrations that have plagued Thailand over the past year after taking a break for the New Year holidays.

But after a year of almost relentless protests, some hope emerged for calmer political waters in 2009 as seemingly weakened demonstrators suspended their siege of Parliament.

Thousands of loyalists of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra walked away from protest sites in Bangkok late Tuesday after the new government outwitted them and succeeded in delivering a vital policy speech that the demonstrators had tried to prevent by surrounding the Parliament building..

Instead, the lawmakers gathered quickly at the Foreign Ministry for the policy declaration before the protesters had a chance to react effectively.

"We'll have a small party tonight and disperse after midnight so that we can take time to celebrate the New Year festival," a protest leader, Veera Musigapong, said Tuesday night.

On Wednesday, another leader, Nuttawut Saikua, said demonstrators would probably target the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or ASEAN, which Thailand is hosting, probably in late February.

Thailand has been rocked by protests by rival groups of demonstrators who either support or oppose Thaksin, once one of the country's richest men, who now lives in self-imposed exile after being forced from office in a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption.