PHUKET: Hundreds of people from Phuket and across the south of Thailand were travelling to Bangkok tonight with more due to leave as six months of street protests come to a climax in Bangkok tomorrow.

Friday's ''final battle'' proclaimed by rally leader Suthep Thaugsuban is likely to bring the announcement of an alternative government, at least one protest spokesperson said tonight, which could trigger physical confrontation with Red supporters of freshly removed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

While the Reds are not due to assemble until Saturday in the Thai capital, keeping apart the two most vociferous elements on both sides of Thailand's political chasm could test Bangkok police and possibly the Thai army as well.

For Khun Suthep, who has collected cash on daily marches through the city's streets since November and spoken to his followers at rally sites most nights, tomorrow marks the climax of a long campaign against the Shinawatra family and corruption in government.

His aim to have the Shinawatras removed from politics in Thailand was helped along by the Constitutional Court on Wednesday in removing Khun Yingluck and nine Cabinet ministers from office and today by the National Anti-Corruption Commission which adjudicated 7-0 that Khun Yingluck had been remiss in supporting the botched rice subsidy scheme and should face impeachment in the Senate.

Just how angry Khun Suthep intends to make the Shinawatra's many supporters will become obvious on Friday morning when the final anti-government street protest begins at the propitious time of 9.09am.

At least one busload from Phuket that is due to leave at 4am will still be on the road so just why thousands of Suthep supporters should be heading for Bangkok tomorrow when the ''final battle'' is supposed to be ending is anybody's guess.

Saksarit Sriprasart is a People's Democratic Reform Committee coordinator in the southern region, from where the protest draws much of its support.

He told the Bangkok Post tonight that protesters are leaving Phuket and other southern provinces by car, train and plane to go to Bangkok because Mr Suthep brought forward the date for the ''final battle'' from May 13 to tomorrow.

Red supporters of Khun Yingluck and her powerbroker brother Thaksin, who is credited with being the brains behind his sister's government, will not be pleased at what has happened on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jatuporn Prompan, the chairman of the main Red group, the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, called for a show of force after the two key decisions that left a former Commerce Minister as Thailand's new caretaker PM and the elected Pheu Thai government appearing to be gradually dismantled, bit by bit.

Whether the election scheduled for July 20 proves to be too far away will probably be determined in Bangkok over the next couple of days. The Auditor General's office has already called into question Khun Yingluck's decision to go ahead with the first national election on February 2, only to waste billions of baht finding out what she'd been warned would happen: that it would be nullified by protests.

Even though the FIVB womens' beach volleyball tournament is scheduled for Phuket - which is a long way from Bangkok - in october, the promoters have decided to cancel the event because of the prospect of further political upheaval. The weekend in Bangkok should tell whether their decision was premature and unnecessarily cautious or wise in the circumstances.