Pro-poll activists pile pressure on NCPO, army

Pro-poll activists pile pressure on NCPO, army

Soldiers and police try to hold back pro-election marchers on their way to army headquarters on Saturday evening. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)
Soldiers and police try to hold back pro-election marchers on their way to army headquarters on Saturday evening. (Photo by Apichit Jinakul)

Pro-election activists have stepped up their campaign by urging the army to stop supporting the junta and setting a deadline for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) to step down.

About 400 people affiliated with the Democracy Restoration Group met at the football field on the Tha Phra Chan campus of Thammasat University on Saturday afternoon.

Their leaders read out three demands: the election must be held in November; the NCPO must be dissolved and the government must become a caretaker; and the army must stop supporting the NCPO.

Rangsiman Rome, who was released on bail the previous day on charges of illegal public assembly, said that if the three demands are not met, his group would begin a major series of prolonged rallies on May 5 to oust the NCPO.

Sirawich Seritiwat, another group leader, said the army would be the first to be pressed to end its support for the NCPO.

"If the army does not respond, we'll pile pressure on the government and the NCPO's network such as the National Legislative Assembly," he said.

The protesters then began walking to the Royal Thai Army headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Nok Avenue. The group leaders rode alongside them in the bed of a pickup truck and used bullhorns to exhort their followers.

Video showed some marchers pushing aside some barricades, and skirmishes were reported as they tried to pass through a wall of police and soldiers blocking an intersection.

The demonstrators brought flyers containing messages urging the army to withdraw its support for the NCPO. As the demonstrators could not enter the army compound, they folder the flyers into paper airplanes and threw them over a fence.

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