A pro-democracy rally scheduled for Saturday has the potential to be violent and anyone responsible for violent incidents will be arrested, police warned on Friday.
Demonstrators are planning to march from Democracy Monument to Government House on Saturday afternoon and to stay there overnight, according to Pol Maj Gen Piya Tavichai, deputy commissioner and spokesman for the Metropolitan Police Bureau.
Rally crowds in recent weeks have been smaller in number than they were a few months ago, but the intensity levels have risen. Participants have stepped up their calls for abolition of the royal defamation law, under which more than 60 people have been charged since November.
Several of the movement’s leaders are now behind bars as they await trial for lese majeste and other offences. They have been denied bail repeatedly.
Pol Maj Gen Piya said authorities had intelligence that the demonstrators on Saturday would include people who had resorted to violence at previous rallies and were likely to use weapons or objects to provoke officers.
Detectives were ordered to collect evidence about those who would use violence and to arrest them immediately for the sake of public safety, he said.
Two weeks ago, clashes at a rally staged by the Redem (Restart Democracy) group resulted in 33 injuries, many of them police, and the arrests of 22 demonstrators.
Last Saturday, police preemptively detained 18 people they believed might cause violence at a Redem rally. That provoked an angry response from participants who vandalised police vehicles.
Pol Maj Gen Piya also said riot police were ready to deal with demonstrators along the route to Government House or to any other destination they might choose.
Police were also duty-bound to seriously protect royal grounds and the area around Government House, he added.
Anti-riot equipment would be available for use, and police would decide later if they need to place cargo containers in strategic areas to block marchers.
Authorities have defended the use of water cannon, tear gas and rubber bullets at some recent gatherings, saying their actions were in line with international standards for dealing with potentially dangerous crowds.
Government House is not a place for demonstrators to stay overnight and they could use other places for their purposes, Pol Maj Gen Piya said.
As well, he reminded the protesters that the emergency situation decree invoked to deal with Covid-19 remained in effect. People who violate its ban on gatherings could be charged under the decree, the Infectious Diseases Act and other laws, he said.