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Thailand to deploy heavy security for ASEAN
[Iran Press TV Latest] Thailand says it will deploy 10,000 security personnel and will ban all rallies during the ASEAN Summit to be held later this month. The country's Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, said all rallies were banned from Friday until July 24 when top dignitaries are scheduled to meet from July 17-23 during the Summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Foreign Ministers from the US, the European Union, China, Japan, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Canada and the 10 members of the ASEAN are scheduled to meet on the tourist island of Phuket, he told Reuters in an interview. Prawit, also a retired army general, said that rallies are being banned to prevent a repeat of April's ASEAN Summit, which was cancelled after protesters poured into the meeting venue in Pattaya, east of Bangkok. "I will do whatever it takes to stop these demonstrations from happening", Prawit said. The cancellation of the summit in Pattaya caused huge embarrassment to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose country holds the rotating chair of ASEAN, he added. Prawit admitted that the government had underestimated the determination of the protesters in Pattaya, who broke through multiple police, army and navy lines before invading the summit venue and prompting the evacuation of leaders by helicopter. He said he would assure that it would not happen again. Posted by: Fred 2009-07-11 |
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