March to govt agencies planned
Play
Protesters staying overnight so they can call on officials to defy the state
Organisers of the anti-government protest at Democracy Monument will call on protesters to spend tomorrow night at the rally site so they can march to different government agencies on Monday morning, spokesman Akanat Promphan said yesterday.
“We will walk to government offices with flowers and whistles to ask government officials to join us,” he said.
Representatives of the Students and People Network for Thailand’s Reform (STR), meanwhile, left their rally site at Makkawan Bridge yesterday for Chamai Maruchet Bridge near Government House so they could submit a letter calling for Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to step down.
In the petition, they cited her government’s poor performance in the past two years and moves to enact laws based on favouritism as main reasons for her to relinquish power.
By 6pm, several hundreds of the protesters had reached the Nang Lerng Intersection on Phitsanulok Road, where the student leader announced that they would stay put because they wanted to block access to Government House.
Earlier they had marched to the Asoke area, the central business district and the Pheu Thai Party headquarters.
A party spokesman said the speech delivered in front of the party headquarters could be deemed inflammatory.
Separately, a source from the anti-government rally at Democracy Monument said the organisers wanted to have protesters stay overnight tomorrow so they could all head for government offices first thing Monday morning to encourage officials to defy the government.
The source said the group decided to announce its plan separately as it wanted to distance itself from the SRT as it was planning to besiege Government House yesterday.
The rally at Democracy Monument is led by former Democrat MP Suthep Thaugsuban, who last week announced onstage that he wanted as many as a million people to join the protest tomorrow.
National Security Council secretary-general Paradorn Pattanatabutr, meanwhile, said the authorities might enforce the Internal Security Act beyond its November 30 deadline.
Security measures will be reviewed after the authorities have assessed the outcome of the anti-government groups’ moves to mobilise huge crowds, he said, adding that if the protests continued, the ISA enforcement would possibly be put in place until the New Year holiday.
As for the anticipated surge of crowds tomorrow, security measures will be tightened as they were during the Loy Krathong festival, he said.
Labour Minister Chalerm Yoobamrung, meanwhile, said Suthep would have to accept responsibility if protests tomorrow spiralled out of control, adding that he wanted the former MP to be arrested on the charge of instigating insurrection.
The National Human Rights Commission has issued a statement voicing its concern for the welfare of women and children at the rally sites and urged parents to keep their young ones at home.
Rally organisers, parents and relevant agencies are obliged to ensure that their children are kept safe and shielded from agitation and hatred speeches, it said.
At a press conference yesterday, Maj-General Surachart Jitjaeng, chief of the Defence Ministry’s public relations department, voiced concerns about the escalating political tension.
He urged rival camps to end their bickering, saying that if the political divide were allowed to persist, it might lead to violence.
A source from the Fourth Army Region, who asked not to be named, said Lt-General Sakol Chuentrakool had submitted a report to Army chief General Prayuth Chan-ocha denying claims made by PM’s deputy secretary-general Suporn Attawaong.
Suporn had wanted the Army to verify reports that a paramilitary officer by the name of Toey Chakkarat was helping Suthep by transporting military weapons to Bangkok.
