The Thai government plans to invoke a tough security law, giving the armed forces broad powers to control a rally in Bangkok this weekend by supporters of former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, a minister said yesterday.
The Internal Security Act (ISA) allows the country’s top security agency, the Internal Security Operations Command, to impose curfews, operate checkpoints and restrict the movement of demonstrators if protests by the United Front for Democracy against Dictatorship (UDD) turn violent.
“Based on information we have received, there are many groups of protesters and some may attempt to use violent means,” Deputy Thai Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said following a meeting with top security officials.
The ISA, to be invoked after today’s weekly Cabinet meeting, would be imposed from Thursday to March 23 in Bangkok and surrounding areas, where anti-government protesters plan to rally to press for new elections.
Following the decision to use the ISA, Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva canceled his planned visit to Australia, a spokesman said, without elaborating. He was to have left on Saturday for a five-day visit.
Thaksin’s red-shirted supporters plan to kick off their rallies in the provinces on Friday before moving to Bangkok on Sunday, merging in the historic heart of the capital near the Grand Palace.
The UDD has said it would stay for at least seven days in what has been dubbed “a million-man march,” although analysts doubt the group can mobilize that number. However, even a smaller number could paralyze the capital.
Tens of thousands of protesters brought traffic in various parts of Bangkok to a standstill for several days last April, occupying major intersections and sparking Thailand’s worst political violence in 17 years. The riots were eventually quelled by the army.
Since then, the group has held peaceful rallies in Bangkok and elsewhere. The special security law has been invoked on seven occasions but no restrictions put in place.
After two unprecedented election wins, Thaksin was ousted in a military coup in 2006 and now lives in exile after fleeing ahead of a two-year prison sentence for graft.
Archeologists in Peru on Thursday said they found the 5,000-year-old remains of a noblewoman at the sacred city of Caral, revealing the important role played by women in the oldest center of civilization in the Americas. “What has been discovered corresponds to a woman who apparently had elevated status, an elite woman,” archeologist David Palomino said. The mummy was found in Aspero, a sacred site within the city of Caral that was a garbage dump for more than 30 years until becoming an archeological site in the 1990s. Palomino said the carefully preserved remains, dating to 3,000BC, contained skin, part of the
‘WATER WARFARE’: A Pakistani official called India’s suspension of a 65-year-old treaty on the sharing of waters from the Indus River ‘a cowardly, illegal move’ Pakistan yesterday canceled visas for Indian nationals, closed its airspace for all Indian-owned or operated airlines, and suspended all trade with India, including to and from any third country. The retaliatory measures follow India’s decision to suspend visas for Pakistani nationals in the aftermath of a deadly attack by shooters in Kashmir that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. The rare attack on civilians shocked and outraged India and prompted calls for action against their country’s archenemy, Pakistan. New Delhi did not publicly produce evidence connecting the attack to its neighbor, but said it had “cross-border” links to Pakistan. Pakistan denied any connection to
TRUMP EFFECT: The win capped one of the most dramatic turnarounds in Canadian political history after the Conservatives had led the Liberals by more than 20 points Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney yesterday pledged to win US President Donald Trump’s trade war after winning Canada’s election and leading his Liberal Party to another term in power. Following a campaign dominated by Trump’s tariffs and annexation threats, Carney promised to chart “a new path forward” in a world “fundamentally changed” by a US that is newly hostile to free trade. “We are over the shock of the American betrayal, but we should never forget the lessons,” said Carney, who led the central banks of Canada and the UK before entering politics earlier this year. “We will win this trade war and
Armed with 4,000 eggs and a truckload of sugar and cream, French pastry chefs on Wednesday completed a 121.8m-long strawberry cake that they have claimed is the world’s longest ever made. Youssef El Gatou brought together 20 chefs to make the 1.2 tonne masterpiece that took a week to complete and was set out on tables in an ice rink in the Paris suburb town of Argenteuil for residents to inspect. The effort overtook a 100.48m-long strawberry cake made in the Italian town of San Mauro Torinese in 2019. El Gatou’s cake also used 350kg of strawberries, 150kg of sugar and 415kg of
RSS