Protest monk Luang Pu Buddha Isara has reportedly postponed a plan to stage an anti-government rally in Hua Hin, where His Majesty the King resides, in the face of local opposition.
Local administrators and many residents had been demanding that the monk abandon a plan to stage a gathering in front of Klai Kangwon Palace in Hua Hin on Sunday.
Heads of villages and people's representatives met at the Hua Hin district office on Friday to express their opposition to the monk's plans. Buddha Isara had intended to hold a rally with some 6,000 demonstrators in front of the palace to petition for His Majesty the King's appointment of an interim prime minister.
The monk is a co-leader of the People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC) which has been demanding the resignation of the caretaker government and national reform before the next election.
Luang Pu Buddha Isara has led a lengthy occupation of government offices in Bangkok's Chaeng Watthana area, which has become notorious for attacks by his PDRC guards on people who stray inside their "territory".
Anant Nuanil, chief of a group of village heads in Hua Hin, said any political activity by any group in Hua Hin would bother Their Majesties the King and the Queen. He stressed that Hua Hin people disagreed with the monk's plan and demanded its cancellation.
Pol Maj Gen Thanet Soonthornsook, the Prachuap Khiri Khan provincial police chief, said he had mobilised about 1,300 police officers in the province to maintain order in Hua Hin in the wake of the report of the planned PDRC activity.
"It is unnecessary to file the petition in Hua Hin as concerned people can lodge it with the Privy Council Chambers in Bangkok," Pol Maj Gen Thanet said.
There should not be such political movements in Hua Hin, the provincial police chief stressed.