Security tightened ahead of Royal ceremony
After reports of potential disruptions to the Royal ceremony later this month, the Thai Deputy PM has increased security numbers ahead of the event.
There are ill-intent elements in and out of the country who want to disrupt the Royal cremation ceremonies and, hence, the security beef up, said Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan on Monday (Oct 2).
In his capacity as chief of the security and traffic management directorate for the Royal cremation ceremonies directorate, General Prawit did not give any details about the ill-intent elements but claimed he had intelligence information about the activities and the plot of these elements who are anti-Monarchy.
He said it was necessary for him to make sure that the ceremonies go on without any disruptions and smoothly in honour of the late King Bhumibol Adulyadej who dedicated his whole 70 years of his life for the country and its people.
The deputy prime minister chaired a meeting of officials of the security and traffic management directorate on Monday during which he told the officials to attach importance to all issues related to the ceremonies in wake of the fact that as many as 250,000 people are expected to participate in the ceremonies.
For the sake of security, he explained that people who want to participate in the ceremonies must enter the ceremonial grounds through the designated routes and, because of the anticipated huge crowd of people, authorities concerned must make sure that the ceremonies proceed smoothly and safely.
Meanwhile, Army Commander-in-Chief General Chalermchai Sitthisart said that the ill-intent elements had already launched their activities through the social media for a while.
But with public cooperation and serving as eyes and ears, he said he believed there would be no untoward incidents during the ceremonies. He also said that security had been beefed up with security personnel being placed around the ceremonial ground with the police as the key player with military backup.
