Bangkok considers state of emergency as violence surges

Thai authorities are "very seriously" considering declaring a state of emergency after a weekend of violence in the capital where protesters have been trying for more than two months to bring down the government, the security chief said on Monday.

Though the size of the demonstrations has declined, protesters have managed to shut down some government offices, forcing Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra to shift her workplace and snarl Bangkok's traffic.

"We're prepared to use the emergency decree ... Everyone involved, including the police, the military and the government, is considering this option very seriously but have not yet come to an agreement," National Security Council chief Paradorn Pattantabutr said after a meeting with Yingluck.

"The protesters have said they will close various government offices. So far their closures have been symbolic; they go to government offices and then they leave. But if their tactics change and they close banks or government offices permanently, then the chance for unrest increases, and we will have to invoke this law," he said.

The emergency decree gives security agencies broad powers to impose curfews, detain suspects without charge, censor media, ban political gatherings of more than five people and declare parts of the country off limits.

One man was killed and dozens of people were wounded, some seriously, when grenades were thrown at anti-government protesters in the city center on Friday and Sunday.

"I think these attacks have been designed to provoke an army reaction," said Paul Chambers, director of research at the Institute of South East Asian Affairs in Chiang Mai, predicting an increase in the violence.

That in turn could prompt the Election Commission to refuse to oversee the Feb 2 election called by Yingluck, which the main opposition has said it will boycott, he said.

The protests, led by 64-year-old anti-government firebrand Suthep Thaugsuban, were triggered by Yingluck's moves last year to grant amnesty to her brother, the self-exiled former premier Thaksin Shinawatra.

Protesters accuse the billionaire businessman Thaksin of rampant graft and want to remove the influence of family, promising ill-defined political reforms.

Demonstrators trying to rid the country of Thaksin's influence by ousting the government led by his sister, Yingluck, believe he has broken the kingdom's tacit contract on graft, said political commentator Voranai Vanijaka of the Bangkok Post.

"Thai people are quite pragmatic. ... we understand that everybody takes a little bite of the apple," he said.

"The problem with Thaksin is that he put a sign on the whole apple tree saying 'property of the Shinawatra family' ... that's dangerous to do here."

The demonstrators allege Yingluck is being controlled by her brother, a tycoon-turned-politician who was ousted in a 2006 coup and lives overseas to avoid a jail term for abuse of power that he says was politically motivated.

Reuters - AFP

(China Daily 01/21/2014 page11)