Pro-election protesters dodge anti-unrest group

Pro-election protesters dodge anti-unrest group

Poll fever: Pro-election campaigners rally at the Oct 14, 1973 Memorial at the Khok Wua intersection on Ratchadamnoen Avenue yesterday to protest against the postponement of the election, earlier expected to be held on Feb 24. The group also marched to Khao San Road.
Poll fever: Pro-election campaigners rally at the Oct 14, 1973 Memorial at the Khok Wua intersection on Ratchadamnoen Avenue yesterday to protest against the postponement of the election, earlier expected to be held on Feb 24. The group also marched to Khao San Road.

Pro-election activists will hold a rally again next Saturday if a royal decree calling for the general election does not come out by Thursday.

Sirawith "Ja New" Seritiwat, a leader of the People Who Want Elections group, made the remark during a rally at Thammasat University's Tha Phra Chan campus yesterday.

The pro-election group earlier announced plans to gather in front of the McDonald's restaurant near Democracy Monument on Ratchadamnoen Avenue at 3pm on Saturday.

But a Facebook page called "Unity Before Election", with the motto "No peace, no election. Join us to show your force and stop unrest", urged people to show their power to stop "unrest" by gathering in front of Sorn Daeng restaurant, not far away from Democracy Monument.

That prompted the pro-election group to move their planned rally to Thammasat University and delay it until 5pm.

Both groups ended their separate activities without incident.

Mr Sirawith stressed the need to avoid any violent confrontation with the other group.

He said he did not mind another group having a different view so long as the protests were held in separate places, and he questioned whether some security units were behind it.

On Friday, the students' council of Ramkhamhaeng University also urged the pro-election group to stop its activities.

It said no one should be trying to stir unrest as the country was about to witness an important royal ceremony -- the coronation of His Majesty the King -- from May 4-6.

Besides, it said, the royal decree was the prerogative of His Majesty the King and it was highly inappropriate for anyone to demand to know when the decree would be issued.

The royal decree calling for the election must be published before the Election Commission can set the date for the poll.

It was earlier expected that voters would go to the polls on Feb 24 but that is no longer possible.

The EC has been considering other dates in March, while Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has said he believes March 24 would be a good choice.

The rally by the Unity Before Election group, meanwhile, drew about 50 people at Democracy Monument yesterday.

Pansuwan Na Kaew, its leader, said his group also wanted the election to take place and did not want a confrontation. It issued a statement urging patience and an end to all activities that could disrupt both the election and the coronation.

Mr Pansuwan is a former leader of a faction supporting the now-dissolved People's Democratic Reform Committee, which led street protests that culminated in the military coup in 2014.

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