The homeless make way for mourners in Sanam Luang

“They understand the situation. They know royal ceremonies will have to be held in the area for the late King,” an official at a Bangkok-based shelter for the homeless said. 
Working at the Mit Mai Tri Home, he said homeless people who normally lived at Sanam Luang had already moved to a nearby area instead. 
Officials, however, have since seen some new, unfamiliar faces around Sanam Luang. 
Ngamjit Taesuwan, who heads an operations centre on solving the problem of beggars, said she suspected that some homeless people might recently have migrated from the provinces. 
“As I have been screening the area daily, I have seen some unfamiliar faces. They denied they were homeless, but told me that they came from other provinces. Hence, the staff would attempt to reach a compromise with them, enabling them to live in the provided shelters that are safer and more comfortable for them,” she added.
Her teams have been inspecting and regulating the presence and movements of the homeless at four locations: Thammasat University, Wat Mahathat Yuwarajarangsarit Rajaworamahavihara, the statue of the Earth goddess, and the old Supreme Court building.
“The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration [BMA] will offer free shelter at the Bangkok Thai-Japan Youth Centre and Imjai House for mourners who come from other provinces and have no temporary accommodation,” Ngamjit said, adding that if they were found to be homeless, they would be offered shelter at the Mit Mai Tri Home, depending on their willingness to make such a move. 
She said that while her teams had asked homeless people not sleep over in Sanam Luang, they had also informed them of the state-provided free accommodation.
Social Development and Human Security Ministry officials, along with police officers, soldiers and more than 30 staff from the Mirror Foundation, together went to the Sanam Luang area to regulate the homeless and tidy up the area for the arrival of huge numbers of mourners coming to pay tribute to the much-revered King Bhumibol Adulyadej before his royal urn, in a ceremony which commences today.
Natee Sorawaree, secretary-general of the Issarachon Foundation, said the regulation of homeless people at Sanam Luang was nothing new, as the BMA normally wanted to clear the homeless from the area by the time it formally closed at 10pm each day.
However, circumstances are now significantly different as Sanam Luang has had to be available 24 hours a day to cater to the massive number of mourners coming to Bangkok and wishing to stay overnight there.
“Fewer mourners from other provinces will, however, now come to Bangkok because the number allowed to pay respects to the late King before the Royal Urn inside the Grand Palace is limited to 10,000 a day. Hence, there is no need to open 
 Sanam Luang around the clock, as has been the case over the past 15 days,” he explained. The number of people living at Sanam Luang since the King’s passing had doubled to 400-600, he said.
 Natee also said the number of those staying in Sanam Luang could rise by roughly 50-100 people, especially seniors and those with psychological issues, after the royal ceremonies ended. 
“The elderly could be possibly get detached from their families among the massive mourning crowds, while some seniors could be intentionally left behind by their children, who see them as a burden” he added.