Anupong meets military chiefs as govt vows not to allow new red-shirt protest site
The government will take drastic legal and other measures to prevent red-shirt demonstrators from setting up a new protest site on Silom Road, another major Bangkok business district.
Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman of the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation, said no protesters would be allowed to move from their current site at the Rajprasong intersection to Silom Road.
"If they moved, they would run into checkpoints and road blockades manned by security forces," he said.
He added that the current illegal occupation of the Rajprasong intersection - Bangkok's major shopping and tourist district - had already caused severe damage to businesses and the general public, hence authorities would not tolerate more trouble-making.
A protest leader said yesterday that a new protest site would be in front of Bangkok Bank's Silom branch.
At a meeting of Army, Navy and Air Force commanders-in-chief yesterday evening, chaired by Army chief General Anupong Paochinda, it was agreed that emergency laws would be enforced strictly through security checkpoints in Bangkok and the provinces to deal with the protesters' offensive.
Besides Anupong, supreme commander General Songkitti Chakkabat, Navy chief Admiral Kamthorn Pumhiran and Air Force chief ACM Itthiporn Suppawong were also present.
Anupong now appears to be in the hot seat, as he is the chief of operations in charge of executing the government's order to capture red-shirt leaders and men-in-black "terrorists" as well as launching a possible crackdown on red shirts.
However, the government said Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban remained the head of the emergency situation centre and hence there was no rift between the government and armed forces as speculated.
TOUGH TEST
Anupong will have to prove that he can execute the order for the arrest of 24 red-shirt leaders or even crack down on the red-shirt protesters if needed.
Sources said a crackdown would prove formidable for Anupong, who had said earlier that dispersing the tens of thousands of red shirts at the Rajprasong intersection was not an option because of the inevitable risk of large-scale loss of life and property damage in the commercial area.
Anupong had also suggested that dissolving the House of Representatives should be the solution for the current political conflict.
In the event of a crackdown, there is also a risk of igniting a full-scale civil war with pockets of resistance throughout the country.
Sources said that if the Army chief failed to execute the order, he could be replaced by his deputy, General Prayuth Chan-ocha, a more hawkish general who is believed to be have been behind the operation on April 10 which lead to 24 deaths and more than 850 injured.
At this stage, the red shirts are trying their best to appeal to Anupong to think twice and not shed blood. The coming days will be the ultimate test of his character. It is unclear whether he would choose to execute the command of dispersing the crowd if ordered to do so.
