Thai anti-govt protests suspended

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.