Thailand ? Thailand’s year of almost relentless protests ended on New Year’s Eve, bringing hopes of calmer political waters in 2009 as seemingly weakened demonstrators suspended their siege of Parliament.

Thousands of loyalists of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra walked away from protest sites late Tuesday after the new government outwitted them and succeeded in delivering a vital policy speech which the demonstrators had tried to prevent by surrounding the Parliament building.

Instead, the lawmakers gathered quickly at the Foreign Ministry for the policy declaration before the protesters had a chance to react effectively.

“We’ll have a small party tonight and disperse after midnight so that we can take time to celebrate the New Year festival,” a protest leader, Veera Musigapong, said Tuesday night.

Thailand has been rocked by protests by rival groups of demonstrators who either support or oppose Thaksin, once one of the country’s richest men, who now lives in self-imposed exile after being forced from office in a 2006 military coup for alleged corruption.