16 people arrested for offences at Sunday protest

16 people arrested for offences at Sunday protest

Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai: Police action standard practice.
Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai: Police action standard practice.

Sixteen people were arrested at Sunday's anti-government protest in Bangkok, during which eight police officers were injured, according to police.

Fourteen of the 16 were acting as security guards for the protest while the police described the other two as protesters.

Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau (MPB), said those arrested had set alight an effigy of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and violated the ban on people gathering.

Police said that warrants are being sought for 10 others who attended the protest.

During the dispersal of the protest, eight police officers were injured, six of whom were admitted to hospital for bone fractures.

The MPB yesterday insisted it adopted stan­dard practice in containing the protesting crowd, which made its way from Democracy Monument to Government House during the afternoon.

On the way, protesters clashed with police who shot water cannon and fired tear gas. Police also reportedly shot rubber bullets at some protesters.

The police had warned the protesters that crowd control measures would be launched. Tear gas used was of international quality, the MPB said.

Several protesters felt skin irritation because wind at the Panichayakan intersection where the clash occurred heightened the effects of the gas, the MPB said.

The protest dispersed later in the early evening.

At the protest scene, police also detained Thanadet Srisongkram who was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Nonthaburi provincial court for allegedly instigating disturbances outside the Public Health Ministry in Nonthaburi on July 16.

Meanwhile, a group calling itself the Centre for People Protecting the Higher Institution on Monday petitioned Criminal Court president Sitthichote Intharawiset to revoke bail for three co-leaders of the Ratsadon protest movement.

Chakkrapong Klingkaew, who led the centre, said the co-leaders -- Parit "Penguin" Chiwarak, Arnon Nampa and Chinnawat Jankrajang -- had participated in street protests since their release from detention in defiance of bail conditions. They were charged with lese majeste.

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