pre-empt

to prevent something from happening by taking action to stop it ยึดเอาไปก่อน

Red shirt co-leader Jatuporn Prompan has claimed there could be a coup in April making it necessary for the red shirts to renew their mass protests to pre-empt any such attempt.

The Thammasat student said he understood the administration's concern that the campaign could escalate into violence if the university does nothing to pre-empt it.

They want prefer to pre-empt an attack, or at least take out the most dangerous and long-range missiles before they could be launched.