Published: 20/04/2010
Newspaper section: News
Security forces are being allowed to use live ammunition in self-defence as the government reiterates its vow to keep the red shirts from the business district of Silom and reclaim Ratchaprasong intersection.
ldiers file into Silom Road Monday to guard the capital’s commercial heart. The troops were mobilised after the antigovernment United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship threatened to expand its protest from Ratchaprasong intersection to Silom Road. ALISA SUWANRUMPHA
The spokesman for the Centre for the Resolution of Emergency Situations (CRES), Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd, said yesterday troops could use their weapons if their lives were threatened but must avoid excessive use of force.
"The officers have the right to use weapons in self-defence," he said.
"Some of them were stabbed in the neck or hit by paving bricks [during the April 10 clashes that left more than 800 people injured and 25 dead]. These incidents are life threatening."
See also: Silom takes 'invasion' in stride
Meanwhile, in a controversial development yesterday, Puea Thai Party chairman Chavalit Yongchaiyudh requested an audience with His Majesty the King to ask him to intervene in the political stand-off.
United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) leaders announced yesterday that red shirts would not march on Silom Road today due to the heavy presence of armed troops, but they would assess the situation and decide on an alternative venue for a rally.
Col Sansern said the CRES had reviewed the rules concerning the use of force and instructed authorities to strictly abide by them.
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