State of emergency continues in Bangkok

Thailand News.Net
Friday 27th August, 2010

The Thai prime minister has indicated he will maintain emergency rule for Bangkok after a bomb incident that injured a security guard on Thursday.

Bangkok will be the country's last province kept under emergency rule following the blast which occurred on Thursday night at the King Power duty-free shopping outlet.

While saying the incident was not an indication of an escalation in Red-shirt violence, Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said he would retain the state of emergency which was first imposed on April 7th when laws were imposed in response to anti-government protests.

Emergency rule prohibits public gatherings of more than five people and gives security forces the right to detain suspects for 30 days without charge.

Police have said the man wounded in the blast is in a serious condition in hospital with shrapnel wounds to his head and leg.

No group has admitted responsibility for the attack.

The owner of the King Power outlet is Vichai Raksriaksorn, who recently bought Leicester City Football club in the UK.

He is linked to the current coalition government which Red-shirt demonstrators have been trying to oust.




Authorities have used the powers to arrest hundreds of suspects and silence anti-government media.
The opposition Puea Thai party has accused government supporters of setting off the first bomb.
The protests by the Reds, many of whom back fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, attracted up to 100,000 people demanding immediate elections.
Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon, was ousted in a bloodless military coup in 2006 and lives in self-imposed exile to avoid a prison sentence imposed in his absence for corruption.
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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