The daughter of late red-shirt guard chief Khattiya Sawatdiphol, or Seh Daeng, on Friday insisted she would today go to Sala Daeng intersection on Silom Road in the capital to lay flowers and light candles to commemorate her father at the location where he was fatally wounded by a sniper.
Ms Khattiyaa said yesterday she has been denied the chance to lay flowers, and light candles to honour the memory of her father at the place he was gunned down on May 13, 2010 during the political protests.
However, she insisted she would definitely go to the spot late this evening.
Ms Khattiyaa said she received a phone call from a police officer on Thursday, who said he was instructed by the army to ask about what she intended to do to mark the seven-year anniversary of her father's death.
She said she told the officer that she and her family would not hold any particular activity, but would lay flowers, wai and light candles at the scene of her father's shooting, something she does every year.
Ms Khattiyaa, who is also a former Pheu Thai MP, said the officer told her she was not permitted to do anything without giving reasons. She said she wanted to ask relevant authorities to determine whether such an order existed, and if that is the case, who ordered it.
She questioned why authorities want to prevent her and her sister from expressing gratitude and commemorating their father.
"Our family has gone through various abuses for political reasons," Ms Khattiyaa said. "It will be the seven-year anniversary so we should be allowed to lay flowers and light candles to express our love, remember and show gratitude towards our father."
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said he "may not be able to speak much about this" as it was a matter for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) which is in charge of taking care of public order.
Lt Gen Sansern, however, said in ordinary merit-making ceremonies, the NCPO always gives permission if the activities have no political implications.
NCPO spokesman Winthai Suvaree said he did not know which agencies would issue such an order, though it would normally have come from the agency in charge of that jurisdiction, and it should be the 1st Army Region in this case.
The agency needs to assess situations to determine whether activities have political implications, he said.
In this case, the responsible agency has assessed that the activity is politically motivated so requests have been made not to do it, he said.
The person who would hold the activity is deemed to be politically connected and has taken part in political protests before so this event has political implications, Col Winthai said.
Maj Gen Khattiya was shot in the head by an unidentified sniper while giving an interview to foreign reporters near Sala Daeng intersection in Silom during the political violence on May 13, 2010. He died four days later. He had been protesting against the government of Abhisit Vejjajiva.
Former deputy prime minister Chalerm Yubamrung, under the government of Yingluck Shinawatra, claimed in 2012 that a group of senior police officers were behind the assassination of Maj Gen Khattiya.
A deputy commissioner holding the rank of police lieutenant general arranged for a sniper to shoot Maj Gen Khattiya, he said.