EMBOLDENED by the removal of Thailand’s prime minister, anti-government protesters withdrew from the city’s Lumpini park today and marched to the vacated prime minister’s office compound — where the protest leader Suthep Thaugsuban has pledged to set up his new office.

Meanwhile, the country’s new caretaker leader hosted his first formal news conference at a makeshift, suburban outpost that has been the government base for months.

He shrugged off the protesters’ plans to occupy the symbolic seat of power.

“We do not want violence,” said acting Prime Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan, defending the government’s hands-off approach as good crisis management.

He reiterated calls for a July election and said he was committed to finding a peaceful solution to the political crisis.

The constitutional court dismissed Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra for nepotism last week.

But protesters say her removal is not enough. They want to set up an unelected “people’s council” to implement still-undefined reforms before any election.