In the aftermath of the riots between pro-government and anti-government protesters, employees of the Electricity Department from northern Thailand left on Tuesday to join anti-government protesters.

The protesters, numbering 1,000, who left by 20 buses, had earlier planned their trip on Wednesday but later changed their mind after the riots occurred on Monday night. They decided to leave today.

The protesters will join those of the 'People's Alliance for Democracy' (PAD) who are staging a strike in government buildings in Bangkok.

The riot occurred between anti-government and pro-government protesters in the early hours today in which at least one person was killed and a dozen were injured. The PM Samak Sundalaraj declared a state of emergency in Bangkok and formed an emergency committee which will be led by Commander-in-Chief Gen. Anupong Paojinda.

The strikers threatened to cut off electricity supply if the government resorts to violence to suppress the strike, 'The Nation', the leading newspaper of Thailand, reported on its website.

Similarly government staff from 43 districts announced that they would cut off electricity, water and telephone services provided to the government offices, police stations and security agencies starting tomorrow as part of their movement.

Meanwhile the Thai Election Commission announced its verdict by vote to abolish the Thai PM's political party 'People's Power Party' (PPP) for vote rigging and irregularities in the general elections. The Commission said that PPP bought votes in the December election.

This verdict will be forwarded to the Supreme Court and if the higher court concurs with the lower court's verdict, 33 senior PPP party officials including PM Samak will be disqualified from their public offices and barred from politics for five years.

Thai C-in-C Anupong Paojinda said that the emergency committee is considering closing ASTV owned by PAD leader Sondhi Limthongkul and state-run NBT TV for airing biased news against each other.