Activities held nationwide to celebrate Thai King's birthday

BANGKOK, December 4 (TNA) - Activities have been organized across Thailand to celebrate His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej's 86th birthday on December 5. In the capital, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) organized a mass merit-making ceremony at Lan Khon Muang ground in front of its head office on early Wednesday morning, presided over by Bangkok Governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, to pay tribute to His Majesty the King on the auspicious occasion, in which the City Hall's personnel and the general public participated. BMA workers and members of the general public, including anti-government protesters, then launched a big cleaning on Rajadamnoen Avenue, including the Democracy Monument and its vicinity, to pay tribute to His Majesty the King. On December 5, a ceremony to show loyalty and to pay respect in front of the portrait of His Majesty the King will be started at Lan Khon Muang ground at 4pm, followed by a candle-lighting ceremony at 7pm, in which people from all walks of life are welcome to join, and a performance by about 4,000 BMA personnel who will transform themselves into a phase "Long Live the King" to demonstrate their best wishes to the beloved Thai monarch. Roads and all areas in Bangkok have also been illuminated and decorated by flowers in honor of His Majesty the King, particularly the Grand Palace, the Chitralada Palace, the Government House, the Parliament, the Victory Monument, Wongwian Yai and the Giant Swing. Illuminated displays at dozens of decorated door-facades with His Majesty the King's portraits and royal activities along Rajadamnoen Avenue were set from December 4, 2013 to January 11, 2014 during 6pm-12pm, but from 6pm until the next dawn on December 4, 5, 31 and January 1. In provincial areas, royally pardoned prisoners, along with soldiers and locals of Mong Hill Tribe of Tueng District in the northern Chiang Rai Province have joined a big cleaning along the Baan Rom Fah Thai-Phu She Fah route to pay tribute to His Majesty the King, while houses, government offices and private buildings in the provincial heart have been beautifully decorated with His Majesty the King's royally-symbolic flag. In Uthai Thani Province in the central region, soldiers of a military explosives plant have donated their blood to pay tribute to His Majesty the King, part of it will be sent to hospitals in the Thai far South to help injured security officers and other victims from violent unrest in the region. In Surat Thani Province in the Thai South, all schools have organized activities in honor of His Majesty the King, including an oath taking by students and teachers to be good Thai citizens and to follow His Majesty the King's moral footsteps.(TNA)