The Defence Ministry has strongly condemned anti-government protesters who on Saturday spray-painted the Victory Monument, which contains the ashes of soldiers, police and civilians who died protecting the Thai nation.
Spokesman Lt Gen Kongcheep Tantrawanich said on Monday that on Aug 7 anti-government protesters converged at the Victory Monument in Ratchathewi district in Bangkok.
Some of them sprayed paint on the wall on which the names of 801 army, air force, navy, police and civilian personnel were engraved.
Lt Gen Kongcheep said their action was totally inappropriate and went far beyond the scope of the demonstration.
It was a show of disrespect for the monument, where the ashes of the 801 people are kept and their names inscribed in their honour, affecting the feelings of their families and of disabled war veterans.
The monument was built in 1942 and commemorates those who lost their lives protecting the nation in the Thai-Franco War, World War II and the Korean War.
It is considered spiritually valuable to the Thai people as a whole, he added.