The Sheikhul Islam Office (SIO) has slammed a group of anti-government protesters over inappropriate behaviour inside a mosque in Trang's Palian district.
Anti-government protesters start blocking two laneson the Thai-Belgian flyover onRamaIV Road with makeshift barriers yesterday. PATIPATJANTHONG
"A mosque is a place of worship for Muslims and is very sacred to them," the organisation said in a statement issued yesterday. "It is a pillar of peace for the community and should be above all political conflict."
On Monday, about 300 demonstrators told the Islamic Ismailiyah Foundation School to close in an attempt to get people to join their protest against the state, the SIO said.
The protesters showed up while Muslims were attending classes and some were praying at the adjacent Sujud Islam mosque.
Some of the demonstrators appeared to be drunk and some even fired gunshots into the air, according to the agency.
"It is not appropriate for any group to threaten or close a mosque," the organisation stated. "Doing so is an act of violating basic religious rights."
The SIO also implored Muslims to be patient and not react adversely to opinions on the subject to avoid violent conflicts.
People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) co-leader Thaworn Senneam yesterday apologised to the SIO and the Muslim community in Trang on behalf of the PDRC.
The PDRC demonstrators in Bangkok and nationwide continued to lay siege to government installations yesterday.
Mr Thaworn led protesters from the Victory Monument stage to block the entrance of Phaya Thai district office on Phahon Yothin Soi 5 after learning that an election committee meeting was to take place there to prepare for tomorrow's advance voting and the Feb 2 election.
However, a deputy district chief told the protesters that the meeting had been cancelled.
The Thai Labour Solidarity Committee yesterday morning joined PDRC protesters at a rally outside a temporary Labour Ministry office in Taling Chan after they received reports that the caretaker government planned to borrow from the 1.1-trillion-baht Social Security Fund to pay rice farmers under the rice-pledging scheme.
Chalee Loysung, the committee leader, later called permanent secretary for labour Jeerasak Sukhontachat, who assured the protesters that the Social Security Office, which supervises the fund, would not approve the loan if the government makes any such request.
The demonstrators were satisfied with this assurance and later dispersed.
The Network of Students and People for Reform of Thailand (NSPRT) travelled from their protest at Chamai Maruchet bridge to lay siege to the Public Administration and Fine Arts departments, the Cabinet Publishing and Gazette Office, and TOT Plc's Sam Sen office.
They called on the officials to stop working and go home.
Some officials at these offices agreed to do so, while others refused to leave the office, reasoning that they had important work to finish.
Pheu Thai legal expert Singthong Buachum yesterday asked the charter court to issue an injunction against the rallies of the PDRC and its ally the NSPRT.
He said the Constitution Court earlier considered the anti-government protesters' rallies as an exercise of the right to stage peaceful demonstrations. However, he said, the protest has grown increasingly violent.
Noppadon Pattama, a legal adviser to ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, yesterday denied an accusation by former deputy Democrat leader Kraisak Choonhavan that the national energy giant PTT Plc worked for Thaksin by transferring 25 billion baht to his energy business.