Capo toughens up, set to seek damages

“We will also pursue criminal cases against protesters who have violated laws,” Pol Maj-General Piya Uthayo said yesterday in his capacity as spokesman for the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (Capo). 

He was speaking after anti-government protesters under former Democrat MP Suthep Thaugsuban’s leadership began laying siege to a number of government agencies. 

Piya said police would also press charges against demonstrators for cutting electricity and tap water at the National Police Office on Thursday. “They have disrupted electricity and water services at government agencies in a way that affects these agencies and people,” he added.

If convicted, the demonstrators involved in the said violations will face a jail term of up to five years and/or a maximum fine of Bt10,000.

Piya expressed concern about the unfolding situation, saying that emerging evidence showed the protesters intended to incite violence in the coming days. He pointed out that a group of demonstrators had fired bolts at Pol Colonel Mana Thanyawanich, injuring him in the forehead. 

“An attack on an official on duty is punishable by a jail term of up to three years and/or a fine of up to Bt6,000,” he said. 

He added that police had also found Bangkok Metropolitan Administration officials trying to send 250 sandbags and some 18 litres of fuel into a rally site. Though the officials told police officers that the sandbags were meant for a flooded area and the fuel was for electricity generators, Piya said: “We don’t allow the delivery of such items because they may be used for causing violence.” 

The Metropolitan Police Bureau has now erected concrete and barbed-wire fences around sensitive government agencies that may be targeted by anti-government protesters. Some 450 officers have also been deployed at the headquarters of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, where a number of demonstrators have shown up. 

Deputy Government Spokesman Pakdiharn Himathongkam, meanwhile, dismissed Suthep’s claim that ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra’s former wife – Khunying Pojaman na Pombejra – was plotting to assassinate Suthep and other anti-government leaders.  “There’s no reason for her to do so,” he said.

Suthep is leading the protesters under the Civil Movement for Democracy to eradicate the “Thaksin regime”.