Protesters line up at Govt House

The first group – 1,000 people from the National Municipal League and Subdistrict Administration Organisation Association – arrived at 8.30am.

 

They wanted to submit a petition to the prime minister, 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.

 

PM’s Office Minister Worawat Uaepinyakul received the petition on the premier’s behalf. He vowed to settle their demand by the end of next month. So, that group left the area at 9.20am. 

 

A second group was made up of 500 farmers from Prachuap Khiri Khan, Chumphon, Ranong, Nakhon Si Thammarat and Surat Thani provinces, who demanded state intervention in the prices they get for agricultural produce.

 

The farmers called on the government to help stop the fall in prices for their products, as moves taken by the authorities have failed to help them maintain their incomes. 

 

Then, 20 representatives of relatives of victims of the 1992 May Uprising submitted a petition to Interior Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit via Prasith Chaiwirat, the PM’s deputy secretary general, asking the government to help them in the same way as victims of the 2010 political violence. 

 

Later, at gate 4, opposite the National Anti-Corruption Commission office, 30 taxi drivers gathered to oppose a Transport Ministry proposal to amend regulations for cars with engines under 1,500cc 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.