Students from Rachawinit school near Government House have to walk past the People's Alliance for Democracy rally as roads leading to their school are blocked. |
Today's weekly cabinet meeting will take place at Government House as usual despite the continuing rally by the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy.
Government spokesman Wichienchote Sukchotrat said it is not necessary to change the venue. Moving it would be seen as ''unusual''.
He said the government is not worried by the PAD rally as it has already allowed the Senate to hold a general debate on the performance of the entire cabinet and the opposition will be able to grill Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and seven other ministers in the no-confidence debate starting today.
His remarks comes on the heels of the PAD's success on Friday in breaking through the police cordon and besieging Government House.
About 1,000 police from the Metropolitan Police Bureau and the provinces will be deployed to beef up security at Government House for today's meeting.
Maj-Gen Chamlong Srimuang, a key PAD leader, said yesterday the protesters would neither storm Government House nor block cabinet ministers and Government House officials from entering and leaving the grounds.
He said the PAD demonstrators would not march to parliament. They could not count on the parliamentary system to solve their problems.
Maj-Gen Chamlong said the PAD has agreed to turn down the volume to avoid disturbing students at schools near the gathering site.
The Central Administrative Court yesterday dismissed a petition filed by the PAD against national police chief Patcharawat Wongsuwan for allegedly ordering his subordinates to turn off the loudspeakers on the PAD stage, accusing him of disrupting their rally.
The court also rejected the PAD's request to grant it provisional protection from police action at their rallies.
City police chief Pol Lt-Gen Assawin Kwanmuang said traffic in areas surrounding the gathering venue was not heavy yesterday as motorists avoided roads leading to the rally site and three nearby schools suspended classes for the day.
Some schools which resumed classes yesterday were affected somewhat by the rally as students and teachers took more time to reach their schools.
Thanmik Thammasarot, deputy director of Rachawinit school, said students and teachers could not use Phitsanulok road as it was blocked by protesters. The school has also found the rally too noisy.
The Rajamangala University of Technology's Phra Nakhon campus yesterday suspended its classes.
It will today hold a meeting with its lecturers to make its stand known on the PAD gathering.
A riot police officer deployed at Government House was found drunk on Sunday night. Pol Sgt-Maj Jaras Thaichana, of Plabplachai police station, was handed over to police as he tried to enter the rally site.
He was stopped by a PAD guard. The officer later admitted he drank alcohol because he was under stress from work. He will remain in detention for seven days for negligence of duty.
The army yesterday announced that troops from the Anti-Aircraft Artillery Division in Bangkok would leave for training in Saraburi, Nakhon Nayok and Samut Sakhon today.
The announcement was made to dispel coup rumours.
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