Anti-Election Protesters Intercept Ballots At Laksi

Election equipment stranded in Laksi Area Office, as anti-election protesters besiege the office, 31 January 2014

(31 January) Anti-election protesters have besieged Laksi Area Office in Bangkok to withhold the distribution of ballot papers and ballot boxes.

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The protesters, who are supporters of the People′s Committee for Absolute Democracy With the King As Head of State (PCAD), marched from their campsite on Chaeng Wattana Road to the district office at around 10.00 today.
 
PCAD has vowed to disrupt the 2 February election in order to pave way for the formation of an unelected "People′s Council" which would rule Thailand as a transitional government.
 
The Buddhist monk activist, Luang Phu Buddha Issara, led the protesters at Laksi Area Office, where he demanded that the Director of Laksi Area, who also serves overseer of Bangkok′s 11th voting constituency, immediately stopped distributing equipment to polling stations in the vicinity, such as ballot papers and ballot boxes.
 
The monk claimed that the the ballot papers were "poisonous fruits of poisonous trees", referring to the 2 February election. He also warned that should the election go ahead, much violence and deaths would take place.
 
PCAD guards later closed down roads at will around the Area Office, such as Soi Chaeng Wattana 10, claiming they had to set up security measures in order to prevent attacks on protesters from armed elements.
 
However, many officials complained to our correspondents that they had already been facing great difficulty in their commuting to work, since the protesters also shut down the nearby Chaeng Wattana Road.
 
It is unclear whether the protesters would camp around the Area Office until election day.
 
 

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