Police check trucks, vans heading into Bangkok
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Police manned checkpoints along all major roads leading to Bangkok yesterday ahead of a major anti-government rally scheduled for today.
The Pitak Siam group will kick off its rally at the Royal Plaza in the capital today.
“We have manned 53 checkpoints to search for weapons and drugs, and to deter any attempt by a third party to stir up violence,” Provincial Police Region 4 commander Lt-General Kavi Supanan said yesterday.
He said Khon Kaen police set up checkpoints on Mitrapab Road and focused on vans, buses and trucks carrying multiple passengers.
“The drivers of such vehicles will have to register,” Kavi said. He said the number of anti-government demonstra
tors from the upper Northeast should only be around 1,300.
Pol Lt-Colonel Rungsak Jongkonrat, a deputy superintendent at a local police station, insisted that police were not preventing people from joining the Pitak Siam-led protest.
“We are just conducting searches for illegal items,” he said.
Buri Ram Police deputy chief Colonel Rawiwat Tiensuwan said the checkpoints were being manned strictly.
National Police commissioner General Adul Saengsingkaeo, who now heads the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order, believed the number of anti-government demonstrators in Bangkok would stand at around 50,000 and that the rally might be prolonged.
“We have received reports that the demonstrators have brought along clothes and raincoats,” he said.
Adul said the Internal Security Act (ISA) had been invoked as a preventative measure.
“It’s better than having to arrange a crackdown later on,” he said.
The ISA is now in effect in three districts of Bangkok: Dusit, Pom Prab and Phra Nakhon.
A huge number of policemen have been deployed around the rally site. Provincial Police Region 4 alone has provided 2,500 policemen for the mission.
According to Adul, the Metropolitan Police Bureau will provide security to MPs who need to attend parliamentary sessions if the rally drags on.
