Five panels set up to probe Oct7 violence

The clashes claimed two lives and injured nearly 500 victims. The five sub-committees will work under the governmentappointed factfinding committee, which has Preecha Panichwong as its chairman.

"The five sub-committees will work independently," Preecha said yesterday, "We expect the results to come out in two months". However, he was quick to add that the probes might take longer if there were many witnesses and a lot of evidence involved.

Preecha said the first sub-committee will gather information and collect evidence from government officials, the second from demonstrators, and the third from reporters and media crew.

The fourth sub-committee is assigned to study all laws relating to the incident including disciplinary regulations that are applicable to policemen and military officers.

The fifth sub-committee is in charge of secretarial tasks.

Meanwhile, Deputy Metropolitan Police Commissioner MajGeneral Amnuay Nimmano threatened to take legal action against anyone who made improper reference to the Monarchy. "We are gathering evidence to issue arrest warrant," he said.