Thai Prime Minister Says Ready To Cancel State Of Emergency In Bangkok Over Protests

Thai Prime Minister Says Ready to Cancel State of Emergency in Bangkok Over Protests

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday that he was ready to cancel a state of emergency introduced in the capital of Bangkok over mass anti-government demonstrations if protesters stepped back

BANGKOK (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st October, 2020) Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said on Wednesday that he was ready to cancel a state of emergency introduced in the capital of Bangkok over mass anti-government demonstrations if protesters stepped back.

The state of emergency was declared on October 15. Earlier in the day, a Sputnik correspondent reported that the participants of the Bangkok anti-government protests gathered near the Victory Monument, which is situated in the center of the Thai capital, and headed to the Government House.

"I am ready to lift the state of emergency in Bangkok," Prayut said in his televised address to the nation, adding that today is the moment when all need to take a step back.

According to the prime minister, the government "hears the protesters' demands" and is ready to listen to them again, "but at the parliament, not on the streets.

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Prayut also said that an extraordinary parliamentary session would be held from October 26-27 and focus on finding a way out from the current situation in the country.

The anti-government demonstrations began back in February when the constitutional court banned opposition party Future Forward, which was popular among students. The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and imposition of a lockdown in early April hampered the protest movement. However, the pandemic has also affected the economic situation in the country and deepened public resentment with the authorities. The protesters demand the dissolution of what they call Prayut's military dictatorship, which took over in a bloodless coup in 2014 but has since remodeled itself into a civilian type. They also call for a limitation of the monarchy's power and to scrap the strict laws prohibiting criticism of the king.