DPM satisfied with security during provincial visits

DPM satisfied with security during provincial visits

Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs Suthep Thaugsuban expresses his satisfaction with security measures for Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and the ministers during their provincial visits last weekend.

The deputy premier lauded the governors of the provinces the Cabinet's members had visited during their provincial tours, especially Lop Buri province where the prime minister visited yesterday despite the slight chaos by the anti-government United Front of Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) supporters.

Mr Suthep also dismissed the criticisms about the large deployment of police and military officers to provide security during the provincial tours, saying that the deployment was up to each province to arrange with no instructions from the government. He said people who threw objects towards the premier's motorcade would be punished, not the governor.

Meanwhile, Mr Abhisit said that he was not discouraged by the red-clad UDD’s attack in Lop Buri yesterday and he believed that people who threw bottles of water at his cars did so due to tensions caused by heat. The premier affirmed the government is obliged to be patient with protesters.

National News Bureau of Thailand
9 March 2009