It is nearly a month since Puangporn Boonthai, a university student from north-east Thailand, came to Bangkok to join a siege of Government House to protest against the country's elected administration.

Initially, the protesters were calling for the resignation of Samak Sundaravej, the abrasive former prime minister, who was removed from his post two weeks ago by a court that deemed his guest appearances on a television cookery programme a violation of constitutional conflict of interest rules.