PM staying at 'safe house'
Caretaker Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has not returned home for four days due to security concerns and is believed to be staying at a "safe house" at an unknown location in Bangkok.
Police, however, continue to heavily guard her residence at Soi Yothin Pattana 3.
Yingluck was last seen in public when she made a nationally televised address on Wednesday about the rice-pledging scheme.
National Security Council secretary-general Lt-General Paradorn Pattanathabutr said the PM could hold upcountry Cabinet meetings or go to three of her ad hoc offices – the Army Club, the Air Force Command Centre and the Defence permanent secretary’s office.
Despite the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee vowing to hunt Yingluck down, Paradorn said the security for the prime minister was sufficient.
He said the Centre for Maintaining Peace and Order would not be relocated from the Police Club despite protesters going there as its level of security was sufficient.
Other senior government figures had not request special security at their residences.
It was quiet at the office of the Defence Ministry’s permanent secretary yesterday, except for a crowd-handling drill involving three companies of army officers.
The drill involved a scenario where protesters headed to the compound from the south and officers kept them at bay or made a coordinated retreat.
It also included a scenario where protesters breached security and entered the building.
The focus of the drill was the protection of VIPs, particularly the prime minister.