BANGKOK: Thailand will deploy almost 10,000 security personnel to the tourist island of Phuket to keep protesters away from a high-level regional meeting later this month, the country’s defence minister said yesterday.

Prawit Wongsuwan, a retired army general, said all rallies were banned from yesterday until July 24 to prevent a repeat of April’s East Asia Summit, which was cancelled after protesters poured into the meeting venue in Pattaya, east of Bangkok.

US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton will be among those attending the July 17-23 meetings, along with counterparts from the European Union, China, Japan, Australia, Russia, New Zealand, India, South Korea, Canada and the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). “I will do whatever it takes to stop these demonstrations from happening,” Prawit Wongsuwan told Reuters in an interview. “This is for the country and all Thais.”

The cancellation of the summit in Pattaya caused huge embarrassment to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, whose country holds the rotating chair of ASEAN.

Prawit admitted the government had underestimated the determination of the protesters, who broke through multiple police, army and navy lines before invading the summit venue and prompting the evacuation of leaders by helicopter. Prawit gave his assurances that it would not happen again.