BANGKOK, Sept 19 (TNA) – Police apply its new demonstration response plan for the first time to the anti-government rally today.
The Royal Thai Police Office deployed nearly 10,000 police officers at the rally venue – the Tha Prachan campus of Thammasat University, its vicinity and a route towards Government House which demonstration leaders targeted.
Pol Col Kissana Phathanacharoen, deputy spokesman of the Royal Thai Police Office, said police were applying the Chumnum 63 plan instead of the Korakot 52 plan which had been used for about a decade.
The new demonstration response plan was approved on Sept 15, suited present situations and complied with the Public Assembly Act. It still adhered to soft measures preceding harsh ones. Officials would mainly take care of demonstrators and ask a court to verify the legality of the rally rather than using force, Pol Col Kissana said.
As the executive decree on public administration in emergency situations was being exercised to control the coronavirus disease 2019, officials set up health screening checkpoints in the area of the rally, he said.
