Nearly 17,000 police to ensure security on Bangkok election day
The Metropolitan Police Bureau will deploy 16,817 policemen to keep security at 6,817 polling stations on Sunday when elections for Bangkok governor and the Bangkok Council are held.
Pol Maj-General Jirasant Kaewsaeng-ek, deputy commissioner of the bureau, said the police forces would keep security when some 4 million voters are expected to come out to vote on Sunday.
Jirasant warned shops and restaurants in Bangkok against selling alcoholic drinks from 6pm on Saturday until 6pm on Sunday, as it would be a violation of the election law.
He said candidates would also be prohibited from campaigning from 6pm on Saturday.
The bureau has been monitoring violations of the election law from May 9 to May 15 and did not detect any serious offence that would affect the election results, Jirasant said.
He said police had received six complaints of election campaign signs being removed. The suspects have been arrested. They admitted to removing the signs because the posters blocked the front of their shops, Jirasant said.
The bureau also stepped up crackdowns on crimes from May 9 to 15 ahead of the elections. Police arrested 4,309 suspects in 4,295 criminal cases during the period, Jirasant added.
He said the bureau had learned that seven groups of protesters are planning demonstrations on Thursday and Friday, and two groups would stay overnight at the rally sites.
The two groups are the Committee for Siam’s Strategic Reforms, which will rally under the Rama VIII bridge, and the World People Council, which will rally in front of the Russian Embassy, both on Thursday.
Jirasant added that a group of Ukraine people will rally in front of the Russian Embassy on Thursday, and a group of protesters will rally at the Ratchaprasong intersection at 5pm on Thursday.
At 5pm on Thursday, the Musicians for People group will rally in front of Bangkok Remand Prison and the Resistant Citizen group will rally in front of the Supreme Court at 5.30pm, while the Thalu Kook (piercing through prisons) group will rally at Victory Monument at 6pm.
On Friday, a group of protesters will organise a vehicle rally from Democracy Monument to the Criminal Court at 11am and from the Criminal Court to Bangkok Remand Prison at 3pm.
Since July 2021, the Metropolitan Police have been investigating 840 cases against demonstrators and 482 cases have been wrapped up and passed on to public prosecutors, Jirasant added.