A 14-year-old protester who blew his hand off while preparing to throw a firework at a rally has been diagnosed with Covid-19, police said.
Pol Col Kissana Phatthanacharoen, a deputy spokesman for the Royal Thai Police Office, said yesterday evening that the young man had been receiving treatment for his seriously injured hand in an intensive care unit at Ramathibodi Hospital.
While in the hospital, the protester underwent a Covid-19 test and the result turned positive.
The teenager was injured while setting off large fireworks at a protest near the Din Daeng intersection on Wednesday.
The fireworks exploded before he could throw them, blowing away part of his left hand, the deputy spokesman explained.
According to a police source, the teenager was a student in a non-formal education system.
Rumors that the police forced the protester to hold the lit firework until it exploded circulated on social media.
However, Pol Col Kissana called the reports “fake news.”
Demonstrators and police officers clashed at protests in and around the Din Daeng intersection on Wednesday night.
On Thursday, Metropolitan Police Bureau’s commissioner Pol Lt Gen Pakapong Pongpetra said 11 riot police had been injured in the clash.
Protesters allegedly attacked them with fireworks, ping pong bombs, glass marbles, and stones.
Eight government vehicles and 12 traffic light stands were also reported to have been set on fire on Wednesday.
Property damage requires unnecessary waste of the government budget to repair, Pol Lt Gen Pakapong added.
Bangkok police reported that 17 protesters had been arrested at the Victory Monument on Wednesday, including 15 men and two women.
All have been accused of illegal assembly, causing riots, and resisting a police order to end the demonstration.
Pol Maj Yingyot Thepchamnong, a spokesman for the Royal Thai Police Office, said that several arrested protesters had tested positive for Covid-19.
In another Thursday development, police arrested Arthit Sakolware and Namchiaw Neamchan at their residences on suspicion of an illegal gathering risking disease transmission and allegedly setting ablaze a police prisoner transport truck at the Victory Monument last Saturday.
