Emergency Lifted in Thailand
On April 24th, Abhisit Vejjajiva – the Prime Minster of Thailand announced that he was lifting the 12-day emergency in Bangkok. He announced this step in a special session of the Parliament in a bid to heal the anger against the government carried out through protests in the streets. Various protests have been carried out by the red shirted supporters of the exiled ex-Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in order to force the government to conduct general elections.
The state of emergency was put in place after a group of anti-government protesters stormed the summit of Asian Leaders in the city of Pattaya. The supporters of the ex-Prime Minister, Thaksin Shinawatra accused the government of using stringent methods to disperse the supporters who forced the summit to be cancelled.
Hundreds were injured during the clashes between anti- government protesters and police. It was only after thousands of troops were sent by the Government, that demonstrations were called off and order restored in the city to an extent.
The prime minister rejected the call for new polls and instead proposed an all party commission to reform the military inspired constitution drafted in 2007. The constitution has been considered a bone of contention for sometime now, with people criticizing it as backward step from ‘People’s charter’ formulated in 1997.