Anti-government protesters in Thailand are to stage mass rallies in coming days to try to get a new prime minister installed - but their leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, said if this final push did not succeed, he would surrender to authorities on May 27.

Thailand has been in turmoil since protests flared up in November, the latest phase in nearly a decade of antagonism between the Bangkok establishment and supporters of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who won huge support among the rural and urban poor but was ousted by the army in 2006.