MFA:Thai government deals with demonstrators peacefully

BANGKOK, December 9 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs called a meeting of foreign diplomats in Bangkok on Monday morning, during which the international envoys were confirmed that the government's security officers handle protesters peacefully. Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul canceled a trip of foreign diplomats to Bangkok's Government House to inspect the Thai government's responses to demonstrators, but called a meeting with them at the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs instead. At the meeting, in which diplomats of as many as over 60 countries participated, 21 of them are ambassadors of 21 countries, Surapong informed the foreign diplomats on the updated domestic situation, including movements by the People’s Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC), led by Suthep Thaugsuban, a former MP and a former deputy prime minister of the Democrat Party. Surapong later told journalists that the international diplomats are interested in Thailand's domestic situation and want to see peace, while he affirmed that the government side will not use forces and has surveillance cameras installed around the Government House to monitor actions of the government's security officers to prevent any accusation that the government plans to take a violent action. Meanwhile, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) index rose by eight points at its opening time, after Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra announced the dissolution of the House of Representatives, but the SET index later closed its morning session down 1.58 points, or 0.12 per cent at 1,359.99 points.(TNA)