By Xinhua,
Bangkok : Thai senior police officials on Wednesday denied reports that they planned to forcefully disperse the anti-government demonstrators at the Government House, although core members of the rally said they were prepared to be arrested.
Anti-government People’s Alliance for Democracy (PAD) leader Chamlong Srimuang said earlier that he and the other core members of the activist group were prepared to be arrested if police decided to disperse the group’s demonstration.
Commenting on news reports that police would use force to disperse the gathering of the PAD-led demonstrators on Wednesday, he said it is possible because there were reinforcements of police and vehicles for prisoners in Government House.
However, senior police officials denied the reports. According to the Thai News Agency, police said that no police reinforcements have been deployed but prisoner-transport vans had been relocated from the Government House compound to make room for parking for government employees.
Should police proceed to disperse the rally, Chamlong said, the leaders were ready to be arrested without resistance.
But the PAD leader warned police not to use force because it would lead to a sooner-than-expected collapse of the current government if the situation escalated.
Since May 20, the PAD launched a mass rally outside the Government House and continued a round-the-clock anti-government demonstration, demanding the government led by premier Samak Sundaravej to step down.