Parliament not right venue, Thai Spring told
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The Thai Spring group was slammed yesterday for having the nerve to hold a press conference at Parliament and will be banned from using this venue in the future.
The group’s leader Kaewsan Athibodhi had invoked his rights as a former senator to call the press conference in the Parliament compound. Also present were other key leaders, namely Pol General Vasit Dejkunchorn and Kwansruang Atibodhi.
However, Watana Senpairoh, spokesman for the House Speaker, said he and other parliamentary officials had been reprimanded for letting this happen, adding that it was wrong to use a government building to announce policies that cause rifts in society.
Pheu Thai spokesman Promphong Nopparit joined Watana in attacking the group’s leaders, saying using the venue was inappropriate as it was the working place of parliamentarians and not a venue to discuss issues that will only cause conflicts.
When asked why red-shirt leaders could hold media events at Parliament, Watana said they were allowed because Pheu Thai MPs accompanied them.
Meanwhile, the three leaders announced that they will be launching online rallies via the Facebook page Thai Spring Forum to step up pressure on PM Yingluck Shinawatra, whom they denounced as the “nation’s betrayer”.
Kaewsan said every day for six days a video link will be posted on the page. The campaign kicks off at 6pm on June 23 and wraps up on June 28.
He added that he was not afraid of authorities blocked the page. “By law, a Facebook page cannot be shut down until legal action is taken against the page owner,” he said.
Meanwhile, Vasit said the campaigns were being held under Article 69, which allows people to demonstrate peacefully against efforts to seize ruling power through unconstitutional means. He added that he was not afraid of being killed like government-critic Akeyuth Anchanbutr was. Though the police have been putting the murder down to theft, others believe he might have been assassinated at the order of someone.
The Thai Spring group was founded by setting up a website to seek signatures from people opposed to the speech delivered by Yingluck in Mongolia. Kaewsan said that 26,173 people had put their names down so far.
