BANGKOK — A Redshirt group based in Nonthaburi province has vowed to "symbolically" petition His Majesty the King to air their grievance against the Constitutional Court.
According to Sornsak Malaithong, spokesman of the People's Radio for Democracy (PRD), the group will present a petition to a portrait of His Majesty the King in front of the Constitutional Court office today. Mr. Sornsak said the gesture is meant to humbly ask the king to ensure that the judges perform their duties with impartiality and fairness.
"We want to express our demands in a symbolic way," Mr. Sornsak explained.
The Constitutional Court is scheduled to rule in the coming weeks on whether Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra illegally removed the former head of the National Security Council; a guilty verdict will strip Ms. Yingluck of her position as a caretaker PM.
Pro-government activists have accused the Constitutional Court of collaborating with anti-government protesters in a bid to oust Ms. Yingluck, and they have threatened to hold mass rallies if the judges hand down a guilty verdict.
When asked whether the group's rally in front of the Constitutional Court office will lead to violent clashes with anti-government protesters who are also rallying near the court office, Mr. Sornsak said the risk of a clash is low because the rival protest groups have no "dispute" against each other.
"We have not prepared anything, and we have already contacted the police," Mr. Sornsak said, "It's the duty of the police to protect us."
Pol.Col. Athip Pongsiwapai, commander of Thoong Song Hong Police Station, said police officers have been deployed to contain the protests, and expressed his confidence that no violence will occur.
The police also asked motorists to avoid Laksi intersection due to the ongoing protests, and to use Soi Chaeng Wattana 5 instead.
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