Anti-government protesters rally at Shinawatra's businesses

BANGKOK, February 20 (TNA) - Anti-government protesters have rallied at Shinawatra's businesses to escalate their pressure on Thailand's Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her family. Luang Pu Buddha Isara, a monk who heads anti-government protesters on Chaeng Watthana Road in Bangkok, led demonstrators to rally in front of the Shinawatra Tower III building on Vibhavadi Rangsit Road in the capital on Thursday morning to pressure the caretaker prime minister and the businesses of her family at the building. After arriving at the building on eight buses and a certain number of pickup trucks, the demonstrators waited for anti-government protesters from Pathumwan Intersection who were following Suthep Thaugsuban, secretary-general of the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), to join the rally at the building. Luang Pu Buddha Isara told his demonstrators not to block access to or enter the building to avoid legal actions, saying that he brought demonstrators there to show them the wealth of the Shinawatra family and they would continue to rally there until the family became poorer. Security guards and police officers have been protecting the building from demonstrators, while some workers were leaving the place. Police Captain Chalerm Yubamrung, Director of the government's Center for Maintaining Peace and Order (CMPO), told reporters, meanwhile, that he would appeal against the Civil Court's Wednesday order on prohibiting the caretaker government from dispersing or arresting protesters. The CMPO chief, who is also Caretaker Labor Minister, revealed that he would also ask the court whether it was legal for protest leaders who faced arrest warrants to gather weapons and to seize government offices.(TNA)