Thailand's Caretaker PM pledges non-violent means against protesters

BANGKOK, January 7 (TNA) - Thailand's Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has asked all parties concerned to refrain from violence and promised her caretaker administration will deal with protesters without using any weapon. Yingluck told journalists on Tuesday, after the Cabinet's weekly meeting, that she has assigned all ministries to discuss measures with security authorities to ensure they can continue to function and minimize negative impacts during mass rallies by anti-government protesters, planned in Bangkok from next Monday onwards. Yingluck acknowledged that police and soldiers will be mobilized to protect important places. But the caretaker prime minister denied rumors that her caretaker government has urged the military to stage a coup and spend a year on a national reform, stressing that a coup is not good and considered not to help solve any problem. According to the caretaker prime minister, what is good is peaceful negotiation and she believes Royal Thai Armed Forces chiefs prefer long-term solutions to a method that is unacceptable to the international community. The caretaker prime minister asked protesters to, however, give the way for the organization of National Children's Day activities at Bangkok's Government House on January 11. While the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) plans its mass demonstrations in 20 locations in Bangkok across Bangkok from January 13 onwards, the red-clad pro-government United Front of Democracy agains