A worker for a car cleaning service in Mukdahan is the latest suspect to be arrested by police for the burning of the provincial hall during the unrest on 19 May.

On 22 Nov, police arrested Praiwan Pornpet, 38, at a rented house where he lived with his daughter and his brother in the town of Mukdahan in northeastern Thailand.

He was charged with trespassing on public premises and committing arson during the unrest at the provincial hall on 19 May.

He said that he did not join the red shirts in Bangkok, but did go to the protest in the province.  On that day, there were thousands of protesters.

He insisted that he did not burn the provincial hall.  He had not fled, and stayed at his rented house after the incident.

He worked as a car cleaner at a local shop, earning a daily wage of 110 baht.  He was divorced and had one daughter and a mentally-ill brother in his care.

A police source said that a total of 78 arrest warrants had been issued in Mukdahan.  28 suspects have already been arrested.  Among the remaining 50, the identities of only 7-8 suspects are known to the police, while the rest are identified only by their appearance in photographs.  The photographs cannot be disclosed, the police officer said, citing an instruction from his superior.

The arrest took place one day after a visit to the province by a group of red-shirts who are campaigning for the release of all detainees by riding bicycles from Bangkok to Nong Kai through several provinces in the northeast.