Thailand to beef up security ahead of key party ruling

BANGKOK (AFP) - Thailand plans to beef up security in the capital ahead of a crucial ruling on whether the kingdom's two largest political parties should be dissolved, Bangkok police said Sunday.

About 500 police will be deployed on Wednesday at the court where judges will announce the fate of Thai Rak Thai (TRT), the party formed by the ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, and the Democrat Party, Thailand's oldest party.

The parties face a slew of electoral fraud charges related to annulled elections in April last year, and many people are concerned that a verdict banning one or both of the parties could provoke unrest and clashes.

Colonel Sansern Kaewkamnerd, spokesman for the junta which seized power in a coup last September, said police would work with the army and Bangkok security staff to monitor both the capital and the countryside.

He said the army would set up checkpoints on roads from the north, a stronghold of Thaksin and his TRT party.