By Linda Khoo Hui Li
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BANGKOK, Oct 16 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha said the state of emergency in Bangkok\u00a0is necessary after unprecedented incidents during the Oct 13 and 14 protests in the Thai capital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, Prayuth declared \u201cSerious Emergency Situation in Bangkok\u201d to ban gathering of five or more people, put into effect at 4 am (local time) on Thursday in a bid to end three months of student-led street protests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe government imposed the emergency decree against those violating the ban on political gatherings as the situation turned violent. It is also to protect public safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThere are unprecedented incidents happen during the demonstrations on 13 and 14 Oct. The protest is also damaging the economy, national security as well as the government\u2019s effort to contain the spread of COVID-19. Therefore, the emergency decree is needed,\u201d he said at a media conference here Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Among the incidents include the obstructing of a royal motorcade on Wednesday by protesters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Earlier, he chaired an emergency cabinet meeting at the Government House to approve the emergency decree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Prayuth said that the government will enforce the measure for 30 days or less if the situation eases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Prayuth said he will not resign amid thousands of anti-government protesters defying a ban on large gathering in the capital as political tensions escalate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Thursday, thousands of protesters defied the ban and staged one of the biggest demonstrations at Ratchaprasong intersection in the middle of Bangkok\u2019s main shopping district, repeating their demands \u2013 including for the prime minister to step down, dissolution of parliament, rewriting the constitution, and reform of monarchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI am not quitting,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, Government Spokesperson Anucha Burapachaisri said the government reassure freedom of expression to people under the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, he said preventive measures \u2013 including the declaration of \u201cSerious Emergency Situation in Bangkok\u201d \u2013 is needed to reduce the elevated tensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe protests on Oct 13 and 14 have violated the laws and affect national security as well as public safety. It is not a peaceful assembly under the constitution.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cGiven the sensitivity and volatility of the current situation, the government has deemed it necessary to implement preventive measures to reduce violence and encourage all parties to exercise restraint,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Linda Khoo Hui Li BANGKOK, Oct 16 (NNN-BERNAMA) — Thailand Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha said the state of emergency in Bangkok\u00a0is necessary after unprecedented incidents during the Oct 13 and 14 protests in the Thai capital. On Thursday, Prayuth declared \u201cSerious Emergency Situation in Bangkok\u201d to ban gathering of five or more people, put […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":19,"featured_media":96867,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[215,288,318],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97005"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/19"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=97005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/96867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=97005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=97005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=97005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}