Hundreds of curious workers at Govt Complex come out to check on the protest
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Hundreds of civil servants working at the Government Complex in Nonthaburi yesterday flocked to observe the "anti-Thaksin regime" protest on the second day of the protesters' occupation of the complex.
Suthep Thaugsuban, a key leader of the Civil Movement for Democracy, has become something of a superstar among the officials, who asked to take photos with him. All throughout the day, officials came to observe the rally.
Wasun Prapaslim, a Telephone Organisation of Thailand (TOT) employee, said he had attended the protests at Democracy Monument, the Finance Ministry and Government Complex.
He said he liked the protest rally at Government Complex because it is near his office, so he can join it three times a day: in the morning before office hours, during his lunch break and then again after work.
“Suthep is pushing state officials to go on strike, but I think strikes should only happen at those institutions where it will have no effect on people,” Wasun said.
‘Bosses have issued a warning’
Another man said that the TOT unit he works for did not allow officials to join the rally. His boss had warned employees that he would make video recordings of anyone who attended the rally, the man said.
He was not worried by this, however, as he was not planning to use office hours to join the rally.
Other offices have implemented a similar rule barring employees from joining the rally.
A female worker from the Information and Communications and Technology Ministry, who wore a national-flag wristband, said she supported neither the government nor the protest, but had come to observe the rally on her lunch break.
She said the rally had not affected her work, because the sound of the protest had not penetrated the glass walls of her office.
Another man who works at the National Statistical Office said he had just come along to the rally to learn more about it, but he didn’t support the movement.
His office was not affected by the protesters’ occupation of the site, but the Immigration Bureau, the Election Commission and other offices had been forced to close because of their proximity to the rally, the man said.
