Thai anti-government demonstrators gathered at a checkpoint in Wang Noi, Thailand, Saturday. Thousands of “Red Shirt” demonstrators were expected to converge on Bangkok this weekend for a massive rally. (AP)

BANGKOK (AP) – Thousands of red-shirted, anti-government demonstrators converged on the Thai capital from the north and northeast Saturday, vowing to oust the government in a mass, do-or-die display of muscle.

Although protest leaders stressed they would not resort to violence, many businesses closed down, social events were canceled and Bangkok’s normally chaotic traffic was unusually light.

The “million-man march,’’ which is to climax Sunday, is regarded by some as the last chance for ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to return to Thailand.

The Red Shirts, formally known as the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship, are made up of followers of Thaksin, along with other people who oppose the 2006 military coup that toppled him.

Forcing the government out of power, Thaksin loyalists say, could pave the way for his pardon and return.

Thaksin, who resides in Dubai, faces criminal charges for abuse of power. Several thousand protesters started gathering peacefully in Bangkok Friday. On Saturday morning, far larger numbers were seen on the outskirts of the sprawling city arriving in trucks, buses and motorcycles from the Thaksin heartland – the impoverished, rural northeast and the north, where the fugitive leader was born.

An AP photographer at Wang Noi, to the north of the city, saw one line of protesters stretching some 4 miles (7 kilometers) along a highway while security personnel slowly searched the arrivals.

The demonstrators seek to have Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva call a new election, which they believe will allow their political allies to regain power. They believe that Abhisit came to power illegitimately with the connivance of the military and other parts of the traditional Thai ruling class, who were jealous and fearful of Thaksin’s popularity while in office in 2001-2006.

Recent independent polls in Bangkok have indicated that a large segment of the population, irrespective of their political beliefs, is fed up with the protests, which have battered the economy in general and the lucrative tourism industry in particular.