Govt set to enact security law in Thailand

PM cautions red shirts to control protest rally

Writer: PRADIT RUANGDIT and AEKARACH SATTABURUTH

Published: 26/08/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: News

The government will enforce the Internal Security Act in Dusit district from Saturday to Tuesday as part of strict security measures to cope with planned red shirt protests.

Police officers react to the testing of a special high-intensity loudspeaker at a riot control demonstration at the Metropolitan Police Bureau yesterday. The device emits a high-frequency sound painful to humans and has a range of three kilometres and will be on hand in case this Sunday’s rally by the United Front for Democracy Against Dictatorship turns violent. APICHART JINAKUL

The act will be imposed in the district to protect Government House and government agencies which the demonstrators might target, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday.

Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban has been authorised to take charge of security operations in the district.

The act allows soldiers to step in to ensure law and order in the area. The government enforced the Internal Security Act in Phuket in July to prevent protesters derailing the meeting of Asean foreign ministers.

Red shirt protesters plan another major rally on Sunday at the Royal Plaza.

Under the law, the government would not ban peaceful protests. A rally could take place but it must not prevent government officials reaching their offices, Mr Abhisit said.

People would only be searched for weapons and authorities would consider the suitability of demonstrators' routes.

The prime minister said although the protest leaders insisted their demonstration would be peaceful, the government had learned from intelligence reports that there could be attempts to prolong the rally and make it spiral out of control to try to destabilise the government.

The government had to secure political order and a good atmosphere in the country to guarantee an economic recovery, he said.

Mr Abhisit and Mr Suthep said the government would not wait for the situation to get out of control before invoking the act. The act could be exercised when a situation was looking likely to occur, the prime minister said.

"I would like to stress that the government respects the rights and liberties of people but it is also duty-bound to secure order.

"We want everything to be as normal as possible. I don't believe people nationwide want to see a recurrence of April's incidents," Mr Abhisit said, referring to the anti-government protests that turned into riots in Bangkok during the Songkran holidays.

Jatuporn Prompan, a leader of the pro-Thaksin United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) that is planning the rally, said the government was abusing its power by invoking the internal security law and red shirt demonstrators would take strong retaliatory action.

He said the UDD originally planned to rally this Sunday only to protest against the government's delay of its petition for a royal pardon for Thaksin.

But by invoking the internal security law, the government was limiting people's rights, being dictatorial and showing its intention to confront the demonstrators, he said.

The red shirts would also wear black today to protest against Privy Council president Prem Tinsulanonda. They would gather in front of his Si Sao Thewes home today, Gen Prem's birthday.