Thailand lifted a controversial state of emergency in three more provinces yesterday, but not in Bangkok, almost three months after the end of deadly street protests that left the nation deeply divided.
Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who has come under pressure from the US and rights groups to revoke the strict laws, scrapped emergency rule in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Ubon Ratchathani in northern Thailand.
The government said that although it was still worried about possible unrest in those areas, the decree was having a negative impact on business and tourism.
PHOTO: EPA
“I admit that to revoke the emergency decree is risky as there might be some activities that will affect the image of the country,” Abhisit told reporters.
“For Bangkok and surrounding provinces, it’s the hardest decision to make as Bangkok is the center of everything,” he said.
The government has said the laws are still needed in the capital following two small bomb blasts there last month, including one that killed a man.
At one point about a third of the country was under emergency rule.
The strict laws, which ban public gatherings of more than five people and give security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge, remain in place in seven out of Thailand’s 76 provinces.
They were introduced in Bangkok on April 7 in response to mass anti-government protests by the “Red Shirt” movement that left at least 90 people dead and 1,900 injured, ending in a bloody army crackdown in May.
Authorities have used the emergency powers to arrest hundreds of suspects and silence anti-government media.
Seventeen Red Shirt leaders yesterday pleaded not guilty to terrorism at Bangkok’s Criminal Court and will now stand trial for their role in recent political unrest.
They include key protest leaders such as Red Shirt chairman Veera Musikapong and Kokaew Pikulthong, who stood as an opposition candidate in a recent Bangkok by-election, but was not allowed out of jail to campaign.
“We are confident we can prove they are innocent,” their lawyer Karom Poltaklang said.
Karom said the court agreed to proceed with trials and set Sept. 27 for both sides to provide evidence before the hearings will begin.
Some Red Shirt leaders are in hiding, including Arisman Pongruangrong, who led the storming of an Asian summit in the resort of Pattaya last year.
The Reds, many of whom support fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, view the current government as elitist and undemocratic because it came to power after a court ruling threw out the previous administration.
Prosecutors have not yet announced whether they will indict Thaksin, who faces an arrest warrant for terrorism, but lives in self-imposed exile overseas.
After the May crackdown, Red Shirt leaders asked their thousands of supporters to disperse, but enraged protesters set fire to dozens of buildings, including a shopping mall and the stock exchange.
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