Thailand’s Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan has repeated his warning to anti-establishment protesters not to venture within 150 metres of the office of the Crown Property Bureau, which is regarded as a palace.
He reiterated, however, that police will not use force to disperse the protesters, as he assured that there will be no confrontation between anti-establishment and royalist groups.
Meanwhile, Dr. Warong Dechgitvigrom, leader of the Thai Pakdee royalist group, urged his followers not to rally at the Crown Property Bureau.
If they really want to demonstrate, he suggested, in his Facebook post today, that they choose other locations.
Police have placed razor wire along the walls of the Crown Property Bureau compound, on Phitsanuloke road, and erected a sign declaring it to be a “palace zone”.
Police reinforcements from other provinces have arrived at the location in police vans, to support police from the Metropolitan Police Bureau. Many of them have already been deployed around the office.
The bureau’s office used to be a palace, called Wang Daeng, or Red Palace, which was built in 1906 during the reign of King Rama V as the residence of Prince Yugala Thikamporn.
In 1945, the Crown Property Bureau bought the property, to prevent it from falling into the hands of foreigners after the Second World War.
