BANGKOK, Sept 18 (TNA) — The Royal Thai Police Office has worked out a new plan to handle the anti-government rally on Sept 19 and started to deploy about 10,000 officers at the demonstration venue.
Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the national police office, said the Royal Thai Police Office would implement its 2020 Plan for Peaceful Demonstrations to cope with rallies beginning with the Sept 19 rally.
The plan replaced its Korakot 52 plan that had been used for over a decade and was outdated regarding changing situations and the COVID-19 pandemic. The new plan also complied with the Public Assembly Act that took effect in 2015, he said.
The new plan still adhered to the principle of handling demonstrations initially with soft responses before strengthening measures. It did not focus on the use of force but emphasized supervision and waiting for a court’s order, Pol Col Kissana said.
Over 10,000 police officers including plain-clothes ones would start to enter the demonstration venue this evening and intelligence reports did not find any third-party attempt to create an untoward incident, he said.
The officers were reportedly ordered not to carry a weapon.
Pol Maj Gen Jirasant Kaewsaeng-ek, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said demonstrators would gather at the Tha Phrachan campus of Thammasat University and might move to Government House. He advised general people to avoid traffic congestion in the area and its vicinity. (TNA)
