BANGKOK ¨C Thailand¡¯s highest-profile opposition party warned of more demonstrations after drawing thousands of people to an anti-government rally Saturday that also protested the prospect of its looming dissolution.

The crowd assembled on an elevated walkway in a Bangkok shopping district three days after the Election Commission said it will petition a court to break up Future Forward for breaching financing rules, a charge the party rejects.

¡°This is an opportunity for people who are against the current regime to come out and show their power,¡± Future Forward leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, 41, said in a briefing before the rally. At the gathering, he indicated the party will take to the streets next month.

Future Forward is less than 2 years old but surged in March¡¯s general election, which came after almost five years of military rule. It¡¯s part of a sizable opposition bloc in parliament that questions the fairness of the poll and its aftermath. A pro-military coalition led by former junta chief Prayuth Chan-ocha took office after the disputed vote with a razor-thin majority.

Demonstrators packed the walkway late afternoon in downtown Bangkok and chanted slogans such as ¡°Thanathorn, fight, fight!¡± There was no immediate official estimate of the size of the crowd, but a rough count indicates thousands people.

Thanathorn called on supporters to ¡°stand up and fight¡± in a Twitter post Friday that announced the plan for the gathering.

Thanathorn is a critic of the military¡¯s influence and the royalist establishment¡¯s grip on power. His party is the third-largest in parliament and has goals including rewriting the army-backed constitution and breaking up oligopolies.

A court last month barred the former business tycoon from parliament for breaking media shareholding rules, accusations Thanathorn said were politically motivated.

Judges dissolved a party opposed to military rule in the run-up to the election. The party, Thai Raksa Chart, was linked to exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra. The dissolution didn¡¯t spark unrest, but bloody street clashes occurred in the past when another Thaksin-linked party was disbanded.

The ruling alliance¡¯s biggest party, Palang Pracharath, has previously said Thanathorn should respect the justice system and that most people don¡¯t want to see street demonstrations again.

Thailand has a history of sometimes destabilizing political protests followed by military takeovers, a cycle that¡¯s contributed to slower economic growth compared with neighbors such as Indonesia and Vietnam. The baht weakened and stocks pared gains Friday after Thanathorn called for the rally.