Rajprasong street sign removed for cleaning

After the months-long red-shirt rally at the intersection came to a bloody end, people started regarding it as a deadly place, and |the Pathumwan district authorities decided yesterday to remove the street sign.

The sign was used by many to express their political opinions. Activist Sombat Boonngamanong was arrested last month for tying a red cloth around it to commemorate the military crackdown.

Sombat and his fellow activists launched a "dead people at Rajprasong" campaign to |counter the government's attempt to ignore the bloodshed. In fact, state and city authorities have tried to get the shopping centres up and running and even organised fun events in the area - as if to say nothing had ever happened there.

However, activists are doing their part to annoy the authorities.

On Sunday, activist Nathee Sorawaree was fined Bt100 for disturbing the peace as he walked up and down the intersection shouting "I see dead people."

Pathumwan district chief Worapot Intulak said he had ordered the Rajprasong street sign be removed for cleaning purposes, because it was filthy and covered with graffiti.

"We suspect the sign was marked by the anti-government group, but we don't know who exactly. So we just lodged a petition with police and removed it for cleaning," he said.

District authorities will reinstall the street sign as soon as the cleaning is done, he said.