AS 300 crowd-control police officers camped outside Dhammakaya Temple’s Gate 7 yesterday morning, parents sending children to a nearby kindergarten complained that they had been initially blocked from reaching the school.

The incident occurred as Department of Special Investigation (DSI) deputy chief Pol Major Suriya Singhakamon prepared to discuss an operation to arrest former abbot Phra Dhammachayo with the temple staff. The search later yesterday failed to apprehend the monk.

A source reported that parents of Klong 3 Kindergarten pupils had complained that police had blocked their route to school, causing some parents to break into tears as they begged to be let past, complaining that children should not be affected by a matter that concerned adults.

Access to the temple was also blocked, so monks returning from collecting alms could not re-enter the temple through Gate 5, but they were able to sneak in through a side door. Temple disciples, many of whom carried bags of clothes, were also denied access to the temple and were left praying outside.

As the search for Phra Dhammachayo was being carried out, social media users criticised the action as coming too late because the fugitive monk was no longer inside the temple.

Reacting to an online news report by the Nation Multimedia Group’s Kom Chad Luek newspaper, which asked people’s opinions whether Phra Dammachayo was still in the compound, most Facebook users responded that they believed he had vacated the area.

A user identified as “Khon Kwang Lok” said he would have fled if he were the monk, who now could be at any one of the temple’s branches across the world. User Praman Saelao concurred that the monk had likely fled and agreed with many respondents that officers were not making efforts in good faith.

Another respondent, Thanitta Kaewchot, said she suspected the fugitive monk had fled since last year after learning that some form of punishment was almost certain. “It is as the Thai saying goes, ‘hesitation costs a high price’,” Thanitta wrote.

Kom Chad Luek reader Nawadet Paiboon said the authorities’ raid was a pretence because they already knew “the truth” that the monk had escaped, while Somporn Monwiset questioned why a suspect would wait to be arrested after so much pre-raid commotion.