Bangkok governor ordered to support caretaker government in coping with protesters

BANGKOK, January 2 (TNA) - Caretaker Interior Minister Charupong Ruangsuwan has ordered Bangkok governor M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra to support the government’s Center for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO) in dealing with protesters, as the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), whose leaders are members of the Democrat Party, has threatened to lay siege to Bangkok from January 13 onwards. Charupong on Thursday ordered M.R. Sukhumbhand to arrange for places and public utilities that CAPO staffs may request immediately and to maintain surveillance cameras in Bangkok so that the CAPO can have their footage. Charupong also ordered the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) to prepare traffic and transport measures to cope with the planned siege and required the Bangkok governor to report the BMA’s actions to him continually until the domestic political strife eases. Charupong stressed that the Democrat Bangkok governor must follow his orders strictly. As PDRC protesters have continued seizing the Ministry of Interior, Charupong admitted that it is difficult to retrieve the ministry’s compound for the time being, but its departments can continue their functions because they have already set up their temporary offices outside the ministry. Meanwhile, strategists of the ruling Pheu Thai Party are discussing a solution to the registrations of constituency candidates, obstructed by PDRC protesters in 28 constituencies in the Thai South. (TNA)