Thailand plays down coup talk

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Thailand on Friday played down talk of a military coup ahead of a planned "shutdown" of the capital next week by protesters trying to overthrow Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and said life would go on much as normal.

Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul said it was alarmist of the US embassy to advise its citizens on Friday to stock up on two weeks' supply of food and water ahead of what protest leaders say will be a prolonged siege of Bangkok.

Demonstrators led by former opposition politician Suthep Thaugsuban aim to paralyse the capital for between 15 and 20 days by blocking seven main intersections, causing gridlock in a city clogged with traffic at the best of times.

The turmoil is the latest episode in an eight-year conflict that pits Bangkok's middle class and royalist establishment against the mostly poorer, rural supporters of Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Authorities say they will deploy more than 14,000 troops and police on Monday, including police at the main airport, to maintain order in the streets.

Rumours of an impending coup have intensified. The army has staged or attempted 18 coups in 81 years of on-off democracy, but it has tried to tried to remain neutral this time and its chief, Prayuth Chan-ocha, has publicly refused to take sides.

The government has repeatedly played down talk of a military intervention but said on Friday if there was one, it would would operate from backup locations at the national police headquarters and at an army base in the north of Bangkok.