Bangkok ? Thailand’s government began handing out $55 checks to millions of low-income workers Thursday to stimulate an economy battered by the global financial crisis.

As the first checks were distributed, thousands of demonstrators converged on Government House, the office of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, demanding the resignation of the government and rejecting the scheme as a “buy off.”

The demonstrators, followers of ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, say Abhisit’s government came to power through illegal means. Their earlier demonstrations have proved peaceful.

The so-called “help-the-nation” dole-out scheme targets more than 9 million people earning less than $424 a month.

Thailand has been hit with the worst economic downturn since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy grew 2.6 percent in 2008. But the economy’s performance this year is expected to contract 2.5 percent as the country’s crucial export sector slid four months straight.