Thai police, military set to reclaim occupied government offices

Thai police and soldiers will start from Feb. 3 to reclaim government offices occupied by anti- government protesters, secretary of the government-run Center for Maintaining Peace and Order said on Tuesday. The center's negotiation team, led by police chief Adul Saengsingkaew, will continue trying to talk with protesters at all rally sites until Jan. 31, Tarit Pengdith, also director of the Department of Special Investigation, was quoted by Bangkok Post as saying. If negotiation efforts go in vain, the combined military-police forces will start to recapture occupied government offices, Tarit said. In addition, the center would send a letter of warning later Tuesday to 30 private firms it earlier blacklisted for supporting protesters, according to Tarit. If these firms did not stop their support for the protests, legal action would be taken against them, he said. The investigation agency earlier sought arrest warrants against 16 protest leaders, including secretary-general of the People's Democratic Reform Committee Suthep Thaugsuban, but the Criminal Court rejected the request on Tuesday, citing lack of concrete evidence.