Interior Ministry issues urgent order for New Year celebrations
The Interior Ministry has issued five rules for New Year celebrations in an urgent order sent to all provincial governors.
Issued on Monday, the ministry order explains that government agencies and the private sector can still organise celebrations, but organisers must strictly stick to the following five rules:
1. Entertainment venues must close at specified hours and keep underage people, weapons, drugs and other illegal items out of their premises.
2. Local authorities must conduct safety and legal checks on venues and areas where New Year’s events will be held.
3. Organisers must deploy measures to prevent overcrowding which risks a repeat of October’s crowd-crush tragedy in South Korea’s capital Seoul.
4. Public Health Ministry Covid-19 controls must be implemented in public spaces.
5. Local authorities and police must conduct regular patrols during the New Year festival (December 30-January 2) to ensure public safety and quick response in cases of emergency.
Doubt was cast over Thailand’s New Year events after the government and judiciary ordered their offices to cancel celebrations amid nationwide prayers for the recovery of Her Royal Highness Princess Bajrakitiyabha. The Princess is being treated for a heart-related condition at King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok after losing consciousness on December 14.
Two major New Year’s events were subsequently cancelled, with Khao San Road calling off its countdown and Pattaya scrapping its December 29-31 fireworks display. However, concerts and fairs to ring in the New Year will still go ahead at both of the tourism hotspots.
