Security for Children's Day raised : Fears high after attack warnings distributed

Security for Children's Day raised : Fears high after attack warnings distributed.

POST REPORTERS

Security authorities are raising their guard nationwide as families go out to celebrate Children's Day today in the wake of false alarms that kept nerves on edge yesterday. Council for National Security chief Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin said security had been stepped up across the country although attacks were ''unlikely''.

''No one would think of harming children,'' Gen Sonthi said _ just hours before office workers reported an email message that warned against shopping in certain areas and using the subway this weekend.

The security blanket for Children's Day comes less than two weeks after the New Year bombings which killed three people and injured 42 others.

Gen Sonthi said the authorities would invoke the powers of martial law, which carry the maximum penalty of death, against any perpetrators today.

Activities aimed at educating and entertaining children are being held under extra-tight security. Some events have been cancelled.

First Army commander Lt-Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha said surveillance has been intensified since yesterday morning with the number of checkpoints increasing throughout the capital.

Troops, police and local administration authorities have jointly put in place a security blanket in areas under their jurisdiction.

Interior Ministry spokesman M L Panadda Diskula said provincial governors and local administrative organisations have been told to step up security in their provinces.

Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin said city inspectors are on patrol around the clock while body searches and baggage checks will be conducted at all venues where celebrations are held.

Parents are being urged to facilitate the security beef-up by bringing only necessary items with them.

''We are providing security and convenience to visitors to Government House. We'd like to ask the parents, if possible, not to carry luggage with them,'' said Prime Minister's Office Minister Khunying Dhipawadee Meksawan.

Education Minister Wijit Srisa-arn voiced concerns that fewer children would go out today due to a spate of false warnings about security scares.

Leaflets were circulated in Khon Kaen and Buri Ram provinces warning children not to go out today.

An email, said to have been prepared by police, was sent out to workers in the Tisco Building on Sathorn road, advising them to avoid certain shopping malls and the subway at the weekend.

Pol Maj-Gen Anant Srihiran, chief of Metropolitan Police Division 5, later denied that the email originated from the police and urged the public not to panic.

The atmosphere in several provinces has been spoiled with bomb scares and warning leaflets.

In Kamphaeng Phet, a party at a kindergarten was disrupted yesterday by a bomb threat. Parents scurried to take their kids home and classes were cancelled.

Many parents are reluctant to take their children out.

Yupin Pothichak, an office worker, said she will opt for a place where security is very tight and ask her children to be alert.

''I am pretty concerned about safety. It (the Dec 31 bomb) really ruined the day. We're going to a place where there are lots of police and troops,'' she said.

Shows of military might are likely to draw larger crowds this year and the army has rolled out military hardware including tanks, anti-aircraft artillery and helicopters to the venue, which has been shifted from army headquarters to the Royal Plaza.

Down in the South, some schools in the three southernmost provinces celebrated Children's Day in advance amid tight security.

At Ban Tantikaram school in Narathiwat's Rangae district, troops from Phetchabun who are deployed in the province, put on display an armoured humvee, a troop carrier, a field ambulance and personal rifles for the students to view. A small feast was also thrown for 97 children and teachers.

''They haven't had anything like this since the school and the teacher's dorm were torched last year,'' said Maj Vicha Phuthong, a deputy unit commander.

Bangkok Post
Saturday January 13, 2007