BANGKOK: About 40 armed anti-government activists broke into the studios of Thai state broadcaster NBT on Tuesday to try to halt programming as a prelude to a major demonstration against the seven-month-old coalition.

Police arrested the group, who were armed with two pistols, golf clubs, sling shots and knives, NBT reported on air after the attempted disruption.

Today is the people’s revolution day, so we want NBT to stop broadcasting, NBT chief Surayont Hoontasan quoted one of the protesters as saying.

They shouted ‘Get out, get out’ at us repeatedly. All 150 of us were rounded up for a short while before police arrived and talked them down to the ground floor, newscaster Soifah Osukonthip said on air.

The People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a motley group of royalist, pro-military businessmen, is hoping to draw hundreds of thousands of people to Tuesday’s rally outside Government House, their latest attempt to unseat the elected government.