Civil Court’s injunction on crowd dispersal measures clarified

BANGKOK, 23 April 2010 (NNT) – Following the UDD’s petition to the Civil Court, seeking an injunction on the use of violent crowd dispersal measures in the ongoing rally, for which they claimed victory, the court’s ruling has been revealed and clarified to the contrary.

The Center for the Resolution of Emergency Situation (CRES) issued an announcement on the matter, pointing out that the Civil Court ruled that the rally at Ratchaprasong Intersection and related area disrupted traffic and damaged the people’s livelihood and normalcy in the society. The Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister needed to reclaim the area for public use. The petition for the Civil Court to ban the two leaders from breaking down the rally with military force was thus unreasonable. However, any measures used must be appropriate, in line with international practices.

CRES stressed that it had treated protesters with leniency and in line with international practices, as ordered by the Civil Court on 5 April 2010, which cited that the rally had caused damages to the public and national security, thus the right to assemble had been taken too far.

CRES underlined the fact that the UDD core leaders and protesters had been violating the law, and CRES deemed it their tasks to enforce the law and bring back normalcy to the country.