Tight security at flu meet

Police and soldiers armed with batons and plastic shields were in the area hours before ASEAN delegates were due to arrive for the start of the two-day meeting. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE STRAITS TIMES
http://www.straitstimes.com

May 7, 2009

BANGKOK - THAI authorities threw tight security around the venue of a regional conference on the H1N1 flu virus on Thursday to prevent any recurrence of the violence that forced an Asian leaders' summit to be cancelled in April.

Bangkok Metropolitan Police Lieutenant General Vachirapong Chiewprecha told reporters more than 1,000 riot police and soldiers would maintain security around the Dusit Thani Hotel near Bangkok's Silom financial district.

The meeting is the first Asean event to be hosted by Thailand since the summit at the seaside resort of Pattaya had to be called off when thousands of red-shirted, anti-government protesters broke through security barriers and invaded the venue, forcing some Asian leaders to flee by helicopter.

There was no sign of any rally by these supporters of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra by 8.30am (9.30am Singapore time).

Police and soldiers armed with batons and plastic shields were in the area hours before delegates from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) were due to arrive for the start of the two-day meeting.

Police ordered security to be stepped up as a precautionary measure after an overnight clash lasting several hours between dozens of plain-clothed police officers and street hawkers about two blocks from the hotel, in which at least 10 people were wounded.

Television showed police and hawkers, armed with wooden clubs, steel pipes and bottles, clashing near the tourist strip of Patpong after officials moved in to seize pirated goods.

Several warning shots were fired into the air, angering the hawkers, who threatened to march to the hotel in protest. -- REUTERS