A 15-year-old boy seriously wounded by a bullet when protesters clashed with police in the Din Daeng area on Monday is still in critical condition and remains unconscious, Rajavithi Hospital said yesterday.
The hospital said the teenager, whose name was withheld because of his age, was in a coma and on ventilator support since being admitted on Monday night.
The hospital said surgery to remove a bullet in the upper part of his spine would not be performed until his condition improved.
"Doctors have agreed the patient is still in critical condition and needs close monitoring," the hospital said in its second statement since the boy was admitted.
The boy was the first protester shot when demonstrators confronted police in Din Daeng on Monday night. Earlier reports said he was 20.
Police on Tuesday denied firing live ammunition at them and said on Wednesday they were searching for those responsible.
A woman who identified herself as the boy's mother, Nipaporn Somnoi, said on Tuesday after visiting the hospital that she had not come to any conclusion on whether the bullet was fired by police.
What she needed most, she said, was to take him home.
Din Daeng has been a hotbed of recent clashes between anti-government protesters and police, who have prevented them marching to the residence of Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha at the 1st Infantry Regiment barracks on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road.
The rallies were largely organised by the Tha Lu Fah movement but the group on Wednesday denied links with the violence in Din Daeng. Vocational student leaders also blamed it on young protesters airing their frustration over the government's failure to curb the surge of Covid-19 infections and deaths.
On Wednesday, Tha Lu Fah moved its rally site from Victory Monument, which is close to Din Daeng, to Democracy Monument. The group called another rally yesterday, at Democracy Monument.
There was another clash in Din Daeng on Wednesday night.
Pol Maj Gen Piya Tawichai, deputy commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Bureau, said yesterday Bangkok is designated as a Covid-19 maximum and strict control zone and any rallies will violate the emergency decree and the Disease Control Act.
He said the rally by the Tha Lu Fah group at Democracy Monument on Wednesday was illegal as protesters torched and damaged public property and threw fireworks, injuring two police. This prompted riot police to move in to maintain peace and order. Three demonstrators were arrested.
One of them was Thanadet Srisongkram who was wanted under an arrest warrant issued by the Dusit Court for violating the emergency decree and other offences, Pol Maj Gen Piya said, adding police were gathering evidence to pursue legal action against other protesters who broke the law.
He said crowd control officers had performed their duties with restraint and tried to avoid confrontations. Since July, 82 cases have been brought related to anti-government demonstrations and 187 people arrested.