A 30,000-member "Caravan of the Poor" began a march to Bangkok on Friday to demonstrate their backing of Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who has vowed to stay in his job despite of mass protests against him.

After a 14-day journey from Thailand's northmost province of Chiang Rai, Jonjai Mitupan arrived in the outskirt Bangkok province of Phathum Thani on Friday morning.

"It's really a long way for us to come here by a tractor. But we just want to tell the Prime Minister that he should have more perseverance to be a leader, for us and for the nation," Jonjai told Xinhua when he was taking a roadside break.

Chiang Rai is some 700 kilometers away from Bangkok. Taking ride on agricultural vehicles such as tractor, Jonjai said it was a long journey filled with obstacle, danger and challenge.

"It is the same situation as our Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is now facing. Today, we will continue making our way to Bangkok, and we also hope Thaksin can continue to make his way to be a winner," said Jonjai.

On Friday morning, hundreds of tractors and pickup trucks painted with different kinds of pro-Thaksin slogans gathered in Phathum Thani's Klong Luang district as a rendezvous before a march to Bangkok. Then, some 30,000 farmers began a by-foot march to Bangkok, leaving their farm trucks at Phathum Thani for fear of causing traffic chaos.

They are expected to walk 12 hours or 40 kilometers to Chatuchak Park in central Bangkok by Friday evening.

"Without Thaksin's 30 Baht health guarantee policy, we should have died several times," a banner covering a farmer's pickup truck said. The 30 Baht (about 0.8 U.S. dollar) health guarantee policy is one of Thaksin's most popular acts during his 5 years of administration which allows poor families to cure any diseases in state hospitals with only a few spending.

A female marcher told Xinhua that Thaksin's popular policies have insured him mass support in the countryside.

"All 11 members in my whole family come here to support our Prime Minister," the woman from northern Pha Yao Province said, " In Thai history, he (Thaksin) is the only Prime Minister who has visited our rural farm three times in one year to promote agriculture."

March leader Kamta Tanboonchan said that his fellow farmers would hold a meeting on Friday night to consider whether or not to move the rally site to the Government House. But he assured that there would be no clash between his group and those anti-Thaksin demonstrators led by the People's Alliance for Democracy(PAD).

Thousands of anti-Thaksin protestors have already camped outside the Government House since Tuesday to pressurize the prime minister to resign. To avoid clashes, about 5,000 policemen were deployed to sensitive regions on round-the-clock security duties in Bangkok during these days.

"We don't need violence. We just want to show the force and voice from Thailand's farmers, we are loving the Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who are loving us," Jonjai said, waving a tricolor national flag.

Source: Xinhua