REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, BANGKOK - A senior Thai minister rejected a proposal for talks from the leader of an anti-government protest movement on Friday as demonstrators rallied at ministries to put pressure on Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down. Protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban had suggested that he and Yingluck should hold a televised debate.

"Yingluck is the legitimate leader of the country and Suthep is a man with warrants for his arrest who heads an illegal movement. The prime minister should not talk to Suthep," said Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, who oversees a state of emergency imposed last month.

"Suthep is only proposing negotiations, even though he dismissed them before, because protest numbers are dwindling."

The protesters have blocked big intersections in the capital, Bangkok, since mid-January and forced many ministries to close as part of a four-month campaign to push out Yingluck and eradicate the political influence of her brother, ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, seen as the real power in Thailand.

The crisis is hurting the economy with confidence and domestic demand both down. Data on Friday showed factory output fell 6.41 percent in January from a year before.

In some good news for the government, China is to buy 400,000 tonnes of Thai rice, providing funds to help pay farmers who have been protesting because a state rice-buying program has run out of money. On February 4, China scrapped a deal to buy 1.2 million tonnes of rice because of an investigation by the Thai anti-graft agency into various deals between Thailand and China.

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