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"It's too risky to stay at Government House because of repeated attacks against us," PAD spokeswoman Anchalee Paireerak said. "All of us have started to move now. We expect to complete the movement this evening."

The PAD seized the cabinet offices in late August, as part of a campaign they launched in May to topple an elected government they accuse of running the country on behalf of former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, ousted in a 2006 coup.

They took that campaign to unexpected heights last week, storming the main international airport on Tuesday and then occupying the older Don Mueang domestic airport the next day.

The abandonment of the premier's offices will likely ease the risk of clashes with a rival pro-government group who camped out in Bangkok for a second day a few kilometres (miles) from Government House.

About 15,000 red-shirted pro-government activists had converged on city hall in downtown Bangkok on Sunday night, and around 1,500 of them remained there on Monday morning, police said.

"We will rally again this afternoon at the same place," Chinawat Haboonpard, a leader of the pro-government group, told AFP.

Chinawat said the group had not yet decided whether to launch a blockade of the Constitutional Court, which is due Tuesday to wrap up a case that could see the ruling party disbanded for vote fraud and Somchai banned from politics.

Over the last three months the PAD turned the compound around the Venetian-style Government House into a sprawling tented city, complete with portable toilets, food stalls, stages and massive television screens.

But unknown groups have launched grenade attacks at the site. On Sunday, 49 protesters were injured in a blast.

Government spokesman Nattawut Saikuar said Prime Minister Somchai had been notified about the end of the siege.

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