THAILAND - A student leader yesterday claimed that some 4,000 university students from 80 institutions will boycott classes for three days to rally behind the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD) and demand the prime minister's resignation.

The boycott will start from tomorrow to Thursday, and the protesting students would join the PAD-led rally at Government House, Young PAD leader Wasant Wanit said.

Protesting students represent a credible movement and view their activism seriously and not as individual fads as alleged by Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej, Wasant said.

Students from each university would decide for themselves on the extent of the boycott after completing the three-day class walk-out, he said.

He said students might stage rallies upcountry to counter the planned mobile meetings of the Cabinet on grounds that the government no longer had the legitimacy to remain in office.

The first rally, if held, might take place tomorrow at Udon Thani where the Cabinet is scheduled to hold its first mobile meeting.

In his weekly speech, Prime Minister Samak played down the university students joining the political fray.

Samak said only a handful of students, such as those from Chulalongkorn and Thammasat universities, showed up at the PAD rally site at Government House.

He voiced disappointment, however, that three high-school students from Vajiravudh College appeared on the PAD stage.

He said the school was established by King Rama VI, modelled after England's Eton College, hence students should not get involved in the political unrest.

Prince of Songkhla University students would cut classes at Hat Yai campus to join the PAD-led protests in Bangkok, student union leader Pitthawat Wongwairud said.

Many universities in the South plan to join the anti-government protests after administrators gave the green light, Pitthawat said.

Sri Nakharinwirot University president Wiroon Tangcharoen said each student was free to make his or her own decision whether to boycott classes in order to join the anti-government protests.

"The university will respect the student's judgment in the belief that students should be allowed to fulfill their intellectual pursuits," he said.

He said he once was a student activist during the October 14, 1973 uprising, hence he understood student activism.