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Only tear gas used : police

Police responded to criticism on Wednesday of their use of tear-gas to disperse anti-government protesters on Tuesday after a local newspaper published pictures of a policeman carrying a "mysterious explosive device."



Police deputy commissioner Maj Gen Amnuay Nimmano told reporters that 20 police officers were injured in clashes and some even sustained wounds from shooting. He also said that officials at Government House, where the People's Alliance for Democracy protesters are camping, had previously filed a police complaint that some machine guns and pistols had gone missing.

He said the picture of a police officer holding the "mysterious explosive device", published in Kom Chad Luek newspaper, was indeed a tear-gas canister to be used if protesters came too close. This type of device was used in front of the Parliament as police tried to help MPs and senators make their way out after the government announced their policy on Tuesday morning. He confirmed that tear gas only caused irritation and was not powerful enough to blow off a leg as reported earlier.

Deputy police spokesman Maj-General Surapol Tuanthong insisted that the police did not use any weapon other than tear-gas during the crackdown. He said inspections at the scene found pieces of home-made explosives known as ping-pong bombs, which were allegedly carried by the protesters. He said the police would look into officers' alleged inappropriate actions and the mutilation cases, which were beyond the police crowd-control tools used at the time.

Surapol said initial investigations show that the man who died in the car explosion outside the Chart Thai Party headquarters was retired police officer and PAD member from Buri Ram, Pol Major Methee Chatmontri. It is suspected that the explosives were being transported for some other use, but that the man had made a fatal mistake. A source said Methee was the brother-in-law of former senator Karun Saingam.


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