Thai Police Defend Use Of Force To Dispersing Crowd

By Linda Khoo Hui Li BANGKOK, Aug 11 (Bernama) -- Thai police defended the use of force to disperse the anti-government protesters who clashed with the police at Din Daeng Intersection in the capital on Tuesday, the same venue where clashes happened on Saturday. Metropolitan Police Bureau Commissioner Pol Lt. Gen. Pakapong Pongpetra said police decided to use tear gas, water cannon and rubber bullets at the protesters to ensure public safety and to avoid ‘more damage’. “If we don’t (use force), there could be more damage. All the things we use are intended to control the protest,” he said at a press conference here Wednesday. On the same day, Thailand’s Civil Court threw out a petition jointly filed by a reporter and photographer who were hit by rubber bullets while reporting demonstrations in Bangkok last month, seeking to stop police from firing rubber bullets at protesters. The court rejected the application citing the necessity under the State of Emergency to bring ‘emergencies’ under control, reported Thai PBS. However, the court had instructed police officers to exercise greater caution. The protest mobilised by the United Front of Thammasat and Demonstration repeated their demand calling Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha to step down for the government’s poor handling of the COVID-19 situation and slow vaccine roll-out. Pakapong said a total of 48 people were arrested including 15 youths, and 122 motorcycles were confiscated. Anti-government groups and student movements to held more protests to demand the prime minister to step down amid Thailand facing its worst COVID-19 outbreak. Meanwhile, Thailand’s COVID-19 cases have breached the 800,000 mark after 21,038 new cases were reported over the last 24 hours. A total of 207 fatalities reported and the death tolls climb to 6,795 since the pandemic started in January last year. -- BERNAMA