Bangkok police chief Kamronwit Thoopkrachang says protesters are welcome inside the Metropolitan Police Bureau headquarters on Sri Ayutthaya road and can stay indefinitely.
Police cut barbed wire barriers near the Metropolitan Police Bureau to allow protesters to enter its ground. (Photo by Apichart Jinakul)
While inspecting the police force stationed at Pol 1 intersection near near the MPB, Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit told his officers not to use tear gas against protesters, and not to resist if they wanted to go inside the MPB.
"The office belongs to the public and it was built with their tax money," he said.
If protesters want to seize or burn the building, they should be allowed to, and he would take the blame on himself.
Pol Lt Gen Kamronwit also said Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra gave police a personal donation of 2 million baht, and emphasised that she did not want to see Thai people fight each other.
He said his officers would even help protesters remove concrete and barbed wire barriers to help them enter.
He said police would defend themselves from "a third party" using live ammunition. Two protesters have been shot in the past day, although neither police nor protesters have been seen to be armed.
