ID :
310486
Wed, 12/11/2013 - 11:43
Auther :

Thailand's Finance Ministry back to operation, Interior Ministry, Government House seized by protesters

BANGKOK, December 11 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Finance in the heart of Bangkok has resumed its normal operation, so has the Government Complex on Chaengwattana Road, but anti-government protesters on Wednesday morning seized the compound of the Ministry of Interior and blocked government officials from working there. Officials returned to work at the Ministry of Finance, in which the Bureau of the Budget and the Comptroller General's Department are also located, amid security provided by about 150 police officers, after their offices had been occupied by anti-government protestors under the helm of the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former Thai deputy prime minister of the Democrat Party, for 14 days. Police Major General Piya Uthayo, Spokesman of the Center for the Administration of Peace and Order (CAPO), told journalists that, after the protesters had left the compounds of the Ministry of Finance and the Government Complex, police examining government offices there initially found damage to public and personal property, including parked vehicles, surveillance cameras and searched offices, with most damage objects reported to be personal office equipment namely at least 20 notebook computers and nearly 30 mobile phones. According to the CAPO spokesman, police were collecting fingerprints on the damaged property, including cash left in the places, surveillance camera footage and other evidence, and waiting for complaints from damaged parties. The PDRC anti-government protesters, however, seized the compound of the Ministry of Interior and placed barbed wire and steel barriers to block access in front of the ministry on Wednesday morning. Some government officials tried in vain to seek permission to enter their offices, but protesters said that PDRC secretary-general Suthep Thaugsuban would decide how long the seizure would last. Traffic congestion was, in the meantime, reported on roads surrounding the Government House, in which protesters have occupied for the thrid day, forcing affected schools, universites and other education institues to remain closed. Anti-government demonstrations have also continued in many other provinces, as demonstrators have remained in their protest venues and waited for instructions from the PDRC in Bangkok, but the situation has relieved in the provincial areas after the dissolution of the House of Representatives earlier this week. Meanwhile, Prompong Nopparit, Spokesman of the ruling Pheu Thai Party, and the party's legal experts, filed a case with Tarit Pengdith, Director-General of the Department of Special Investigation (DSI), seeking legal actions against the PDRC secretary-general and his associates for allegedly violating the Royal Power of His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej by continuing leading anti-government demonstrations to overthrow the elected-government, despite His Majesty the King's approval for the government-proposed dissolution of the House of Representatives and the new general election on February 2, 2014, as well as breaching the Constitution, attempting to change the national rule and shaking national security.(TNA)

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