Protesters lines up outside Government House
Many groups of protesters gathered at the Government House on Tuesday, with several of them occupying Rajdamnoen Road and causing traffic congestion.
The first group, comprising some 1,000 protesters from the National Municipal League of Thailand and Subdistrict Administration Organisation Association of Thailand arrived at 8.30am and gathered near the Government House on Rajdamnoen Road.
They wanted to submit a petition to the premier, demanding that the government help raise their salaries to the level of government officials with bachelor degrees.
They said they should be paid Bt15,000, the same as those with bachelor degrees, and Bt9,000 for those with education levels below bachelor degree.
Some protesters in this group occupied Rachadamnoen Nok Road in both directions, leaving only one lane open for traffic. Their actions worsened the traffic for about a kilometre from the Royal Plaza to Makawan Rangsan Intersection.
PM’s Office Minister Worawat Uaepinyakul received the petition on the premier’s behalf. He promised the protesters to settle the demand within the next month. The protesters left the area at 9.20am.
Another group was made up of some 500 farmers from Prachuab Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Ranong, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani provinces who demanded government intervention in the prices they receive for their agricultural produce.
The farmers called on the government to support the falling prices of their products, as measures taken by the authorities have failed to help them maintain their incomes.
The majority of farmers received no benefit from the government measures, the petition said, with only a selected group of farmers receiving benefit from the government assistance.
Worawat, who just received a petition from the first group walked past them, entering the Government House to attend a weekly Cabinet meeting. He assigned a representative from Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to receive the petition. The farmers were angry at learning they had been ignored and emptied coconuts from their pickup onto the road. They threatened to stay overnight unless Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra came out to receive the petition herself.
Moreover, about 20 representatives of relatives and families of victims of the 1992 May Uprising submitted a petition to Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidith via Prasith Chaiwirat, PM’s deputy secretary general, asking the government to help them in the same way as it has victims of the 2010 political violence.
At the gate 4 opposite National Anti-Corruption Commission office, 30 taxi drivers gathered to oppose Transportation Ministry’s proposal to amend ministerial regulations for cars with engines under 1,500-cc to be registered as taxis and to extend the duration of a taxi’s life from nine to 12 years.
Prasith came to receive their petition.
