The Centre for the Resolution to Emergency Situations claims to have uncovered a plot to overthrow the monarchy.
The CRES said the network behind the plot included key leaders of the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship, members of the Puea Thai Party and former banned politicians, academics and hosts of community radio programmes.
Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said yesterday the CRES had put together the pieces of the “political jigsaw”. He said people involving in the network could face legal action.
The prime minister and the armed forces have long suspected the UDD rally had a higher purpose than just forcing a dissolution of the House of Representatives.
CRES spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the demonstration, which started in mid-March, had attacked the higher institution through UDD leaders and the red shirts’ media.
The CRES yesterday ordered red shirt protesters to walk away from road blockades or face a crackdown by a joint police-military operation. Col Sansern Kaewkamnerd said any attempts by UDD supporters to obstruct convoys of security authorities would face the same action taken yesterday at Wang Noi district in Ayutthaya.
Police from the Regions 1 and 7 and soldiers from the 1st Calvary Battalion decided to break up a checkpoint set up illegally by the UDD late yesterday afternoon. The operations prompted some UDD members to flee the area.
The centre decided to take action after buses, taxies and other vehicles were checked by nearly 400 UDD members, causing heavy traffic congestion on Phahon Yothin Road near the outer ring road in the district.
The latest operation came as political tension shifted from the capital to the provinces where red shirt members blockaded soldiers and police assigned for reinforcement in Bangkok.
UDD leaders are concerned more police and soldiers are part of the government’s plan to launch another effort to clamp down on the demonstrators at Ratchaprasong intersection.
The capital was rocked by grenade attacks in front of the house of Chart Thai Pattana Party chief adviser Banharn Silpa-archa on Sunday night and a bomb threats in front of Chulalongkorn Hospital and a car showroom.
UDD protesters yesterday gathered in Pathum Thani, Saraburi, Chachoengsao, Phitsanulok and Ayutthaya.
Ayutthaya appeared to bear the brunt of separate UDD rallies in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district, where they seized five police vans and detained six soldiers, police officers said.
A group of nearly 100 UDD protesters, led by Puea Thai MP for Ayutthaya Surachet Chaikosol, used motorcycles and tuk tuks to block a road in Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya district to prevent Lop Buri police reportedly travelling in 14 vans to Bangkok.
Five vans were seized by the group while the rest managed to flee from the blockade to other routes.
In Saraburi’s Nong Khae district, about 200 UDD protesters blocked a section of Phahon Yothin Road to inspect vehicles heading to Bangkok.
Many motorists became angry while they were inspected by the protesters. Meanwhile, in Chachoengsao, about 200 UDD protesters used 15 songthaew passenger trucks and motorcycles to block entrances and exits at Chachoengsao police station to prevent officers from travelling to Bangkok.
Their blockade prompted Chachoengsao police chief Monton Mianan to call an urgent meeting on a way to take 300 officers from the station to join other security officers in Bangkok.
Police used road spikes on Chachongsao- Kabin Buri road.
Police in Phitsanulok also faced a similar blockage when the 31st Border Patrol Police division at Fort Phraya Chakri was surrounded by the UDDlinked Red Shirt Phitsanulok 51. More than 150 officers were prevented from leaving their base for a mission in Bangkok as about 100 protesters placed logs, rocks and objects across a road in front of the division.
However, border patrol police decided to go through the protesters who used women as their front line and had men throw stones and wood at the officers. The police, equipped with batons and shields, eventually managed to get out of the area although the action sparked a clash in which some protesters were injured.
Meanwhile, UDD leader Natthawut Saikua said the UDD was planning to move today from the Ratchaprasong stronghold to undisclosed locations.
“It’s time for another an offensive drive,” he said. “The government has been trying hard to crack down on the red shirt demonstration and we want them to know that we remain firm on our goal to oust the Abhisit Vejjajiva government.”
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