Three protest rallies are planned for Saturday in Bangkok and 5,000 officers will be on duty to ensure the demonstrators keep it legal, the city police chef said on Friday.
Metropolitan Police Bureau chief Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai did not rule out again using BMTA buses as a blockade to control marchers — despite the demands of the city bus workers' union not to do so.
But he did say police had no plans to set up blockades. Whether buses were used as barriers would depend on the situation at the time, he said.
Three protests are planned on Saturday at Democracy Monument and adjoining Ratchadamnoen Avenue.
Only organisers of the rally by the self-proclaimed "bad students" have announced plans for a march. They plan to demonstrate outside the Education Ministry, on Ratchadamnoen Avenue, and then walk to the monument, about 1.7 kilometres down the road.
Student activists on Friday received permission from the Chana Songkhram police station to gather at the ministry. They are unhappy with the quality of education in Thailand and want the education minister sacked — and the prime minister for appointing him.
It was not known if organisers of the other two demonstrations, a women's group at the Khok Wua intersection and a "Mob Fest" at the monument, had requested permission for their gatherings. Neither group had announced any plans for a march. (continues below)
High school student activists show permission from Chana Songkhram police to rally outside the Education Ministry on Saturday. (Photo from @BadStudet_ Twitter account)
City police and the management of the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority have been targetted by members of the BMTA workers' union for the "misuse" of BMTA buses as barriers to stop protest marchers.
The union argues the buses are paid for by tax payers, and using them against protesters creates the wrongful impression the city bus agency is taking sides in the political conflict and supporting the government.
Rows of the BMTA's ancient "hot air" buses have been used to block major thoroughfares, and to prevent protesters from walkiing from Sanam Luang to the adjacent Grand Palace to deliver a petition to HM the King last Sunday.
Pol Maj Gen Piya disagreed with the union on Friday.
"The BMTA is a state agency with a duty to cooperate with state authorities," he said. Any damage caused to the buses would be the fault of protesters if they tried to force their way past them.
He said about 5,000 police would be on duty on Saturday — at the rally sites and areas leading to key buildings, including roads to Government House and Sanam Luang.
