Thai king urges stability, but remains silent on current political crisis

Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej called on his people to do their duty for the good of the country in a birthday address on Thursday, but avoided direct reference to the political turmoil roiling the capital.

The world's longest-reigning monarch, who left the hospital in July after a four-year stay, looked somber and spoke slowly, pausing at times, as he read out his address.

He referred to people doing their duty to support each other.

"All Thais should realize this point a lot and behave and perform our duties accordingly, our duty for the sake of the public, for stability, security for our nation of Thailand," the king told a gathering of the country's top leaders.

Protesters are attempting to bring down the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and five people have been killed in clashes over the past week. The two sides reached a truce to mark the king's birthday.

Opposition leader Suthep Thaugsuban said the truce would end Friday with a renewed effort to overthrow what he calls the "Thaksin regime."

The 86-year-old king is the only monarch most Thais have ever known and has been a father figure who has defused previous crises. His words were awaited with expectation.

In theory, Thailand's monarchy is above political division. The king is a constitutional monarch, with no formal political powers but immense influence.

But despite the king's silence over recent years of turmoil, the palace has been drawn in. Thaksin's supporters believe some of the king's advisers instigated the 2006 coup in which Thaksin was ousted.

The birthday ceremony was held at the king's seaside palace in Hua Hin, about 118 miles south of Bangkok, where he moved with Queen Sirikit when he left hospital.

Among those in attendance in formal suits and dress uniforms was Yingluck, the heads of the armed forces and police, top bureaucrats and the leader of the opposition. The queen, who suffered a stroke in July last year, was not seen in television pictures.

Yingluck paid her respects and Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn offered his father birthday wishes and promised to fulfill the king's wishes.

At Democracy Monument in Bangkok, one of the main anti-government rally sites, hundreds of people gathered to show respect for the king, but when images of Yingluck appeared on giant screens the crowd booed and many shouted obscenities.

At the protest headquarters, the movement's leader, Suthep Thaugsuban, said the truce would end Friday.

"Today is a day that Thai people nationwide believe is an auspicious day," Suthep said after watching the king's speech. "Tomorrow the people's movement will continue to eradicate the Thaksin regime from Thailand."

Political street fighting that had wracked pockets of Bangkok since the weekend ended abruptly Tuesday ahead of the birthday celebrations.

A peaceful civil disobedience campaign began weeks before the violence broke out, with opposition groups besieging important government buildings in Bangkok and in the south, including the tourist island Phuket.

The protesters are seeking to bring down Yingluck's government and institute an unelected "people's council" to administer the country. Critics have called the idea utopian and undemocratic.

The protests in Bangkok are the latest eruption of a conflict that pits the Bangkok-based Yellow Shirts against the rural-based Red Shirts — loyal to Yingluck and her brother, former premier Thaksin Shinawatra, who was toppled in a military coup in 2006.

Billionaire tycoon Thaksin fled to Dubai in exile to avoid a jail sentence for graft in 2008, and many Yellow Shirts accuse Yingluck of merely being a puppet of Thaksin and undermining the monarchy.

Thaksin's largely rural, poor supporters swept his sister to power in 2011 election, and there's little doubt she would win again if she were to dissolve parliament and call a snap election, which she has declined to do.

Al Jazeera and wire services