Bangkok: Thai Prime Minister Abhisit
Vejjajiva said on Tuesday that the authorities would maintain
emergency rule in the capital following a deadly bombing over
the weekend.
"I think Bangkok will remain under the state of
emergency while the government will gradually lift the law in
other provinces," he told reporters after meeting security
officials.
The bomb, which killed one person and wounded 10,
exploded at a bus stop in the same commercial district
occupied by anti-government "Red Shirt" protesters during a
two-month-long rally that ended with an army crackdown in May.
The main opposition Puea Thai party accused
government supporters of setting off the bomb, which shattered
an uneasy calm in the capital since the army crushed the Red
Shirts` mass protests.
The government has come under pressure from the
United States and rights groups to end a state of emergency
still in place across one-fifth of the country.
Authorities have used the powers -- introduced in
Bangkok on April 7 -- to arrest hundreds of Red Shirt suspects
and silence anti-government media.
The protests by the Reds, many of whom back
fugitive ex-premier Thaksin Shinawatra, attracted up to
100,000 people demanding immediate elections.
Ninety people died and about 1,900 were injured in
a series of street clashes between armed troops and
demonstrators.
PTI
