Army will prevent more from joining protests

Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd also dismissed a perception that the Army was resisting government authority.

Sansern said the Army would provide three companies of soldiers, as requested by the police, to support their operation at Suvarnabhumi Airport, which was seized along with the Don Mueang Airport by protesters from The People's Alliance for Democracy.

He said troops would not be involved in the dispersal of the protesters but would focus on preventing more people from joining the protest.

The spokesman said Army commander-in-chief General Anupong Paochinda had instructed his subordinates, as a mechanism of the state, to follow orders in a way that would cause the least possible damage.

He also pointed out that in the prime minister's order declaring a state of emergency the police were mainly responsible for dealing with the protesters while the Air Force would assist at Don Mueang and the Navy at Suvarnabhumi.

Sansern explained that the arrangement was in line with the allocation of duties among the armed forces, as the Army was responsible for the inner areas of Bangkok.

The Army spokesman said yesterday that 17 companies from the Army would be involved in a city-wide mission to keep law and order, with troops stationed at state agencies and major intersections.

He also said there would be troop movements in a day or two for a rehearsal of the trooping of the colours ahead of His Majesty the King's birthday. He reiterated the Army chief's insistence that there would be no coup.

On Thursday the Army chief called on Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat to dissolve the House of Representatives and on the anti-government People's Alliance for Democracy to end its takeover of the airports as a way out of the ongoing political crisis. However, both the PM and the PAD ignored his proposals.

Meanwhile a source from the Special Warfare Command said its commander, Lt-General Puchong Rachatawan, did not want his troops to take part in any operation to disperse the protesters.

The commander wants the work to be done by police as "the military has often been used as a political tool", the source said.