The superintendent of Phu Khieu district police, in Thailand’s northeastern province of Chaiyaphum, has been abruptly transferred after anti-establishment Ratsadon followers hung a banner, demanding reform of the monarchy and protesting against the coup in Myanmar, on the façade of the police station.
No action was taken by the police to prevent the banner being displayed.
Pol Lt-Gen Panurat Lakboon, commissioner of the Third Region Provincial Police Bureau, issued an order on Monday removing Pol Col Permsook Siripala as superintendent of Phu Khieu district police and transferring him to an inactive post at the operations centre of the bureau.
The order did not provide any details about the transfer, but said that the decision had been taken for the sake of public order and in the interest of the state.
The same order also appointed Pol Col Pramote Simluang, deputy commander of Chaiyaphum police, to fill the vacant post, as acting superintendent, until further notice.
Informed police sources in Phu Khieu district, however, said that Pol Col Permsook’s transfer is believed to be related to the hanging of the banner on Monday. The Ratsadon followers also held a Speakers’ Corner style rally in front of the police station, to protest against actions taken by the management of the Phu Khieu School.
As part of the “Ratsadon On-tour” activities, the group conducted activities outside the school and urged students to join them, but the school’s management announced that they had nothing to do with such activities and forbade their students from joining.
