Khon Kaen Provincial Court yesterday granted bail to two university students arrested in connection with the torching of a portrait of His Majesty the King.
The young suspects were temporarily released after the court allowed their lecturers to use their positions to support the bail request. The pair are required to report as scheduled or their bail guarantors will be fined 35,000 baht each.
The students were charged with arson in connection with the burning of the King's portrait in front of Srinagarind Hospital in Muang district early this week.
They were arrested yesterday morning after the court approved warrants for their arrests on Thursday. Police also seized a car used in the arson attack.
Meanwhile, residents of the Din Daeng flats yesterday called on Din Daeng police to come up with measures to alleviate the impact of anti-government protests on their lives.
A female tenant identified only as Somporn said the protests had gone from bad to worse with demonstrators staying late until after midnight and harassing some tenants.
Pol Col Rattachai Sriwichai, superintendent of Din Daeng police station, insisted that police were not ignoring their plight and were trying to deal with the protesters.
The United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration wrote on its Facebook page that a group of police searched the houses of three protest leaders without waiting for their lawyers.
According to the group, the officers turned up at the houses of Panusaya "Rung" Sithijirawattanakul, Benja Apan and Niraporn Onkhao with a search warrant approved by Thanyaburi Court. The warrant authorised confiscation of computers and mobile phones for examination under the computer crime law.
The Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group wrote on its Facebook page that police later produced an arrest warrant and held Ms Niraporn in custody on charges of violating Section 116 of the Criminal Code and the computer crime law.