Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in the Thai capital, Bangkok, in a fresh bid to force Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva out of office.
The protesters are mainly supporters of the former premier, Thaksin Shinawatra, who was deposed in a 2006 coup and faces jail if he returns from exile.
Security forces are deployed at major sites around Bangkok.
Thailand's long political crisis has yet to end despite a court's removal of Mr Thaksin's allies from government.
As protesters gathered, Mr Abhisit said he would not dissolve parliament.
Red shirts gather
Police said around 30,000 red-clad supporters of Mr Thaksin had gathered outside the main government offices in the capital, where demonstrators have been staging a sit-in for the last two weeks.
The protest comes a day after Mr Abhisit's motorcade was attacked following a cabinet meeting in the resort town of Pattaya.
The demonstrators, from the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD), claim Mr Abhisit came to power illegally, and accuse the current government of being a puppet of the military.
Protest leaders say they expect thousands more to come from around the country for what they have called "D-Day" in their efforts to push Mr Abhisit to dissolve his four-month-old government and hold elections.
Police said they believed protesters were planning to surround the residence of one of the widely respected king's top advisers and a former Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda, who has been accused by Mr Thaksin of orchestrating the coup that toppled him in 2006.
Mr Thaksin, who is living in an undisclosed foreign country, said late on Tuesday that the protests would mark a "historic day for Thailand".
"We will come peacefully but we need as many people as possible to show that the Thai people will not tolerate these politics any more," he said in a speech via video-link to supporters outside Government House.
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