Thailand yesterday announced the end of a nearly two-month-old state of emergency in Bangkok and surrounding areas, hoping to lure back foreign visitors following an easing of deadly political protests.
The use of emergency rule dealt a heavy blow to Thailand’s key tourism industry during what is usually peak season, and also raised fears of a drop in foreign investment.
The state of emergency will be replaced by another special law, the Internal Security Act, with effect from today until April 30, Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s office announced.
“We’re confident that we can handle the situation, so the Cabinet agreed to revoke the state of emergency as requested by many parties,” Yingluck told reporters.
“The cancelation is to build confidence in the economy and the tourism sector,” she said.
Yingluck has faced more than four months of political protests aimed at ousting her elected government and installing an unelected “people’s council” to oversee reforms.
The state of emergency was introduced in the run-up to a Feb. 2 general election called by the prime minister in an unsuccessful attempt to calm the crisis.
Political bloodshed, often targeting protesters, has left 23 people dead and hundreds wounded in recent months, including in grenade attacks and shootings.
However, attendance at the demonstrations has fallen sharply in recent weeks, while the introduction of emergency rule failed to prevent protesters disrupting last month’s election.
The demonstrators late last month moved to scale back their rallies, consolidating at one site in Bangkok’s Lumpini Park as they ended their so-called “Bangkok shutdown,” which had seen them occupy key road intersections in the city.
Thailand has been periodically rocked by mass demonstrations staged by rival protest groups since a military coup in 2006 that ousted then-Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra — Yingluck’s brother.
Her opponents say she is a puppet for Thaksin, a billionaire tycoon-turned-politician who fled overseas in 2008 to avoid jail for a corruption conviction.
Last month’s election has not been completed in some areas because of disruption by the protests, leaving Yingluck’s government in a caretaker role with limited powers.
Pro-Thaksin parties won every previous election for more than a decade, helped by strong support in the northern half of the kingdom.
However, many southerners and Bangkok residents accuse the Shinawatra family of using taxpayers’ money to buy the loyalty of rural voters through populist policies.
The authorities were unable to use the security powers offered by the state of emergency in any case, after a Thai Civil Court last month ordered the government not to use regulations issued under the decree.
The court banned the use of force against the protesters, after attempts by riot police to clear areas occupied for weeks by opposition demonstrators sparked deadly clashes.
Yingluck has suffered a series of legal defeats by the courts, which have been accused by government supporters of colluding with the opposition to try to oust her.
Far from the violence ravaging Haiti, a market on the border with the Dominican Republic has maintained a welcome degree of normal everyday life. At the Dajabon border gate, a wave of Haitians press forward, eager to shop at the twice-weekly market about 200km from Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. They are drawn by the market’s offerings — food, clothing, toys and even used appliances — items not always readily available in Haiti. However, with gang violence bad and growing ever worse in Haiti, the Dominican government has reinforced the usual military presence at the border and placed soldiers on alert. While the market continues to
An image of a dancer balancing on the words “China Before Communism” looms over Parisian commuters catching the morning metro, signaling the annual return of Shen Yun, a controversial spectacle of traditional Chinese dance mixed with vehement criticism of Beijing and conservative rhetoric. The Shen Yun Performing Arts company has slipped the beliefs of a spiritual movement called Falun Gong in between its technicolored visuals and leaping dancers since 2006, with advertising for the show so ubiquitous that it has become an Internet meme. Founded in 1992, Falun Gong claims nearly 100 million followers and has been subject to “persistent persecution” in
ONLINE VITRIOL: While Mo Yan faces a lawsuit, bottled water company Nongfu Spring and Tsinghua University are being attacked amid a rise in nationalist fervor At first glance, a Nobel prize winning author, a bottle of green tea and Beijing’s Tsinghua University have little in common, but in recent weeks they have been dubbed by China’s nationalist netizens as the “three new evils” in the fight to defend the country’s valor in cyberspace. Last month, a patriotic blogger called Wu Wanzheng filed a lawsuit against China’s only Nobel prize-winning author, Mo Yan (莫言), accusing him of discrediting the Communist army and glorifying Japanese soldiers in his fictional works set during the Japanese invasion of China. Wu, who posts online under the pseudonym “Truth-Telling Mao Xinghuo,” is seeking
‘SURPRISES’: The militants claim to have successfully tested a missile capable of reaching Mach 8 and vowed to strike ships heading toward the Cape of Good Hope Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim to have a new, hypersonic missile in their arsenal, Russia’s state media reported on Thursday, potentially raising the stakes in their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and surrounding waterways against the backdrop of Israel’s war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The report by the state-run RIA Novosti news agency cited an unidentified official, but provided no evidence for the claim. It comes as Moscow maintains an aggressively counter-Western foreign policy amid its grinding war on Ukraine. However, the Houthis have for weeks hinted about “surprises” they plan for the battles at sea to counter the