Wat Prathumwanaram has become a safe haven for protesters - and it hopes to remain a weapons-free zone
The abrupt announcement came on Saturday after a bloody weekend during which Army troops tracked down and executed armed roving red shirts in the surrounding streets.
Some of the red protesters have been living at the temple. With the crackdown, more have joined them, especially women, children and the elderly. Hence the need to keep guns away.
The grounds are now a sanctuary for more than 200 people, including nearly a dozen children.
Yesterday, the Thai Red Cross and human-rights groups visited, giving food and medicine.
The protesters were facing the prospect of death and now find themselves in a place where death can be contemplated: The wat is the repository of the ashes of His Majesty the King's father, as well as bones from his mother and brother.
"The temple is safer than outside," says Wimonrat Ngamwa, 35, of Surin. She and her husband left the rally site in Lumpini Park with their four daughters. They no longer felt safe in the park, so they set up a basic shelter at the temple - without blankets, pillows or mosquito netting, or any plastic to ward off the rain.
Their kids run about, playing with other youngsters, but Wimonrat's oldest daughter, 10-year-old Orawan, knows about the danger.
"I'm afraid of the bombs and the soldiers," she says. "I miss my friends at school in Surin. I want to go to school."
The family, however, has been part of the protest since April 26, and her parents aren't ready to go home yet, despite the government's almost daily threats to disperse the reds. Wimonrat says she's not afraid and will carry on until the government falls.
Her husband, meanwhile, is listening to the speeches from the stage at the Rajprasong intersection.
One of her new neighbours is 54-year-old Ton Phawong from Sakhon Nakhon. Her village headman had advised her to leave Lumpini Park and come here.
She hadn't fretted about the deteriorating situation around Rajprasong, though, and refuses to return home until the government steps down.
Ton, a farmer, insists that no one hired her to join the demonstration in Bangkok. She came of her own accord. "I'm here with my money. No one could buy me!
"I know it isn't worth sacrificing my life, but I want to fight to the end," she adds. "If the soldiers get in here I won't try to escape. Let them shoot me."
Nuanchan Ku-thong, 57, is from Chachoengsao and is just as steadfast. She too has four children with her in the temple compound. There's a large tent where they stay with 50 other people.
Nuanchan mixes powdered milk with hot water for her kids. Sometimes she goes back to the rally site to buy essentials.
She's been part of this for two months and is determined to hold out. "I'll go home when we have victory," she says.
A warning from the Centre for the Resolution of the Emergency Situation - that protesters face two years in jail if they don't quit the rally site - has fazed no one, Nuanchan says. "I did nothing wrong. I'm asking for democracy!"
A monk at the temple, speaking on condition of anonymity, says protesters have been allowed to stay as long as they're unarmed.
The temple is unable to provide them with shelter, however. They have to bring their own tents - most just lay out mats and blankets inside the open-air buildings. There are facilities for bathing and makeshift food outlets in front of the temple.
"The temple will not support or refuse anyone," the monk says. "We help them with mercy."
A ROYAL REPOSITORY- King Rama IV had Wat Prathumwanaram built in 1857 because he wanted a temple near his new Sra Pathum Palace that could be dedicated to his consort. It was originally known colloquially as Wat Sra Pathum.
- The temple features a semicircular pagoda that enshrines the remains of His Majesty the King's father, His Royal Highness Prince Mahidol of Songkhla, and some of the remains of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother and King Rama VIII.
- The wat also has a large garden where herbs are grown.