PDRC leaders vow not to surrender to police

BANGKOK, February 6 (TNA) - Nineteen protest leaders of the anti-government People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) have vowed not to surrender themselves to police, after the Criminal Court's appproval of arrest warrants against them on Wednesday on charge of violating the emergency decree. Thavorn Senneam, one of the 19 PDRC leaders, told reporters on Thursday that he and the rest PDRC leaders have agreed to continue staging anti-government rallies despite the arrest warrants. Thavorn said the 19 PDRC leaders will send lawyers to appeal and inform the court that all of them will surrender themselves after achieving victory. The Criminal Court, on Thursday, also issued an arrest warrant against a senior Buddhist monk Luang Pu Buddha Issara, who is now leading PDRC protesters in occupying some of government offices at Bangkok’s Government Complex on Chaeng Wattana Road, on charges of obstructing advance voting on January 26 and the general election on February 2 respectively. National Security Council (NSC) secretary-General Lieutenant General Paradorn Pattanatabutr stressed he is confident that ongoing domestic political turmoil will ease after all the PDRC leaders are arrested, warning the anti-government protesters not to commit more illegal acts by invading government offices or the private residence of Thailand's Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck after their arrest warrants were approved by the Criminal Court. PDRC protesters, who have staged rallies in the capital since last October 31, have demanded for the ouster of the caretaker government and called for a domestic political reform. In another development, the Department of Special Litigation has issued an order for PDRC secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban to report to prosecution officials within seven days, starting from February 6, on charges of ordering the military to disperse protesters during the 2010 civic protest in Bangkok, which resulted in the death of 91 people. In a stern warning, the Department of Special Litigation stated that Suthep had already asked for the postponement of meeting with the prosecutor twice and if he refuses to report himself this time, a warrant for his arrest will be issued. The Department of Special Investigation (DSI), in December 2012, charged former Democrat prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his then deputy, Suthep, with intentionally conspiring against the 2010 protesters leading to the massive deaths. Suthep was also the then director of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation. Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister M.R. Pridiyathorn Devakula, who is also a former finance minister and Bank of Thailand (BOT) governor, urged caretaker premier Yingluck and her government to resign to pave the way for the appointment of a “neutral and respectable person” to become a new Thai prime minister, citing her administration's failure in its performances, especially in the rice-pledging scheme, in which her government could not pay local farmers, making them now face financial trouble.(TNA)