Thailand lifts state of emergency in Red Shirt bastions

Thailand’s government has lifted an eight-month-long state of emergency in three north-eastern provinces. But the measures brought in during this year’s opposition Red Shirt protests remain in force in Bangkok and three provinces around it.

Reuters

Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has signed the decree lifting the state of emergency in Nakhon Ratchasima, Khon Kaen and Udon Thani, where the Red Shirts, who support deposed Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, are particularly strong.

But in Bangkok and three provinces around it the police and army still have the extra powers, which include the right to detain someone without charge for up to 30 days.

Several grenade explosions have taken place in or near the capital over recent weeks, although no-one has claimed responsibility for them.

On Monday a grenade was thrown near the public prosecutor’s office but injured no-one. Three people were wounded when a home-made bomb went off in a residential area a week ago.

The opposition has accused the government of being behind the blasts, claiming that they are an excuse for maintaining the state of emergency.

The government has come under international pressure to scrap the measure nationwide.
 

The use of the laws has become “almost routine”, Amnesty International said Friday, claiming that they have “often been abused to block the expression of peaceful dissenting views".