BANGKOK, Nov 5 – Students and faculty of various higher-learning institutions across the country have vowed to protest against the controversial Amnesty Bill.
Uthai Yodmanee and Nitithorn Lamlua, leaders of the Students and People Network for Thailand’s Reform, said they will move from their Urupong intersection rally site to the Sala Daeng Skytrain station on Silom Road tomorrow in a show of force.
Protesters will blow whistles at 12.34 pm – a repeated act conducted at the same location yesterday by white-collar protesters from private offices and commercial banks on Silom Road.
They said they would upgrade their protests in the next few days and would be joined by students from Ubon Ratchathani University.
Students, lecturers, alumnae and administrators from Chulalongkorn University will march from the Phyathai Road campus to the Bangkok Arts Centre across from MBK shopping centre, starting at 4pm today.
Piya Utayo, spokesman of the Centre for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), said about 10,000 people were demonstrating at Samsen railway station but have moved to the Democracy Monument on Rajdamnoen Avenue – their new permanent rally site.
Pol Maj Gen Piya estimated 1,500 white-collar protesters on Silom Road yesterday and only 300 at Urupong intersection.
He said significant state buildings including Government House, Parliament and Chitrlada Palace would be fully protected, while a special alert is required on 14 roads in the three districts under the enforcement of the National Security Act.
He said 44 companies of police and 4,000 traffic police officers from other provinces have been assigned to maintain public order in the capital
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra is scheduled to make a three-day visit to the eastern provinces of Chonburi, Rayong and Chantaburi beginning today.
Her first stop will be Pattaya where she will visit injured passengers from Sunday’s boat accident near Koh Lan which killed six people and injured many others.
She will visit Map Ta Phut industrial estate in Rayong tomorrow and later attend a briefing by PTT Global Chemical Co on the July oil spill off Koh Samet in the province.
Ms Yingluck will travel further to Chantaburi on Thursday and pay homage to one of the province’s revered monks before releasing turtles at the Royal Thai Navy’s sea turtle conservation centre, and return to Bangkok later in the day.
