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Bangkok Post
Bangkok Post
National
POST REPORTERS

Thanathorn to be charged over rally

Future Forward Party leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit waves to party supporters who answered his call to join a gathering on the skywalk over Pathumwan intersection to voice dissent against the government on Dec 14. (Photo by Wichan Charoenkiatpakul)

Police have issued summonses for Future Forward Party members to acknowledge charges relating to the flash mob on the Skywalk at Pathumwan intersection in Bangkok on Dec 14.

FFP leader Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, and party member Pairatchote Chantarakhachorn, have been summoned to report to Pathumwan police by Friday.

Other organisers of the rally are protected by parliamentary immunity due to their status as MPs.

According to police, the rally organisers broke the public assembly law by failing to inform police of their plans in advance, blocking a railway station, failing to control rally participants, and using loudhailers in public without permission from authorities.

The rally was called by Mr Thanathorn after the Election Commission (EC) decided to ask the Constitutional Court to disband FFP for accepting a 191-million-baht loan from him to finance its election campaigns -- a violation of a law for political parties.

Last month, the court disqualified Mr Thanathorn as an MP after ruling he failed to transfer his shares in a media company when he registered his candidacy for the March general election.

Meanwhile, an opinion survey by the National Institute for Development Administration, or Nida Poll, showed respondents are split over the "flash mob" organised by Mr Thanathorn at the Pathumwan skywalk -- with the number of supporters slightly higher than opponents.

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