Police search for weapons amid claims of armed men

Deputy Prime Minister Pracha Promnog has confirmed reports that armed men are now among protesters rallying against the government. 

“Police have already arrested two Cambodians for carrying guns at a the protest site of rubber farmers in Prachuap Khiri Khan,” he said yesterday, adding that it was of serious concern to the government. 

Yesterday, about 20 policemen searched several tents at the Bangkok-based rally led by the Students and People’s Network for Thailand’s Reform, but no weapons were found at the site. 

Pracha was speaking after PM’s deputy secretary-general Suporn Atthawong mentioned the presence of war weapons at anti-government rally sites. 

There are now many rallies against the Yingluck Shinawatra-led government. Former Democrat MP Suthep Thaugsuban leads one of the biggest rallies in Bangkok. 

The Democrat Party’s deputy spokeswoman Mallika Boonmeetrakool, who apparently doubted Suporn’s words, demanded that authorities make arrests within two days, if they could prove weapons were at the rally site. 

“Otherwise, we will hold that the current government has lost its legitimacy to maintain peace and order in the country,” she said. 

As of press time, Pracha offered no details on the arrests made in Prachuap Khiri Khan. 

Pheu Thai spokesman Prompong Nopparit, meanwhile, said he had received information that hundreds of hardcore protestors in the southern provinces of Surat Thani, Chumphon, Songkhla and Nakhon Si Thammarat, were being mobilised to join the Suthep-led rally. 

“If there is any violence, Suthep and his gang must take responsibility,” Prompong said. 

Ekanat Prompan, a spokesman for the Suthep-led rally at the Democracy Monument, said dozens of thousand people had signed their petition to impeach 310 MPs who voted in support of the amnesty bill. 

 

Whistle-blowers 

The highly controversial blanket-amnesty bill sailed through the House of Representatives at dawn on November 1, prompting public outrage. Thousands of people have since taken to the streets to show their dissatisfaction. 

The Yingluck-led government has tried to appease the public by announcing that it will scrap the bill. Suthep, however, has continued his protest and called for more anti-Thaksin people to come forward. Yingluck is a younger sister of Thaksin Shinatwatra, the former prime minister who lost power following the 2006 military coup. 

Suthep also urged people to show their dissatisfaction of the government by blowing whistles in the presence of government figures and Cabinet members. 

Education Minister Chaturon Chaisang faced a large number of whistle blowers yesterday at a hotel in Nakhon Si Thammarat where he was presiding over a seminar. 

Whistle blowers were also present at the Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport, when Chaturon boarded his flight. He also faced whistle blowers at a hotel in Bangkok.

Saksarit Sriprasart, a core member of the Student and People’s Network for Thailand’s Reform in Trang, urged local residents to blow whistles at Deputy Prime Ministers Niwatthumrong Boonsongpaisan and Kittiratt Na Ranong, who were scheduled to join a seminar in Trang between November 22 and November 24.

Yingluck, who is also defence minister, said she had recognised whistle blowing was a form of expression.