ALTHOUGH the Thalu Gas leaders had at 5 p.m. today (Sept 13) announced a temporary suspension of the ongoing evening protests at Din Daeng intersection till September 18 to work out their strategy, some of them showed up again and while earlier in the evening it was a peaceful gathering later these protesters again set off firecrackers and started fires, Matichon said.
Earlier these teenage protesters rode their motorcycles around this intersection, barely a kilometre from the First Infantry Regiment barracks which houses Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s residence, the outbound side of Vibhavadi Rangsit road and Soi Mitmaitri 2 where the Din Daeng district office is located.
Upto this point there was no confrontation with crowd-control police.
However at 8 p.m. some of these adolescent protesters gathered at the fence of Royal Thai Army Band Department on the outbound side of Vibhavadi Rangsit road and set off giant firecrackers and flares as well as flung ping-pong bombs into the compound. They also started fires near this fence.
At 8.16 p.m. crowd-control police warned the protesters to stop their activities and that they face arrest and moved out to take control. However the teen protesters let off more firecrackers and the police then retreated to their original line but sent in water trucks to put out the fires and clear the area.
But at 8.30 p.m. the protesters again returned to the front of this department while another group started fires in Soi Mitmaitri 2.
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Meanwhile Ms. Sayamol Kaiyoorawong, commissioner of National Human Rights Commission of Thailand, together with a team of representatives came to this area today to investigate violation of rights both by the police and the protesters, Thai Rath newspaper said.
She talked to residents of the Din Daeng flats to find out more about what has been going on here. Her team had previously on August 7 come here to collect data and since then has been focusing at individual level, such as when a person got injured.
Once the commission’s result is finalised the report will be submitted to the government so that some compensation could be given to those whose rights have been violated.
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More fires were lit and firecrackers were set off by adolescent protesters this evening. All photos: Matichon
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