- Title: THAILAND/FILE: Thai Prime Minister extends Internal Security Act
- Date: 25th November 2013
- Summary: BANGKOK, THAILAND (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) (*** FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY ***) VARIOUS OF FORMER THAI PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN SHINAWATRA WALKING AND GREETING PEOPLE CROWD OF PEOPLE GATHERED THAKSIN HUGGING HIS WIFE POTJAMAN HONG KONG, CHINA (FILE) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF THAKSIN SEATED THAKSIN SPEAKING TO REPORTERS LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (FILE) (REUTERS) THAKSIN AT PRESS CONFERENCE THAKSIN HUGGING DAUGHTER
- Embargoed: 10th December 2013 12:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Cambodia
- Country: Cambodia
- Topics: Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA8ALQPF9KI1E4CMKOPQ7NH0HVC
- Story Text: Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra extended on Monday (November 25) an Internal Security Act to cover more areas of the capital including the district where Bangkok's main airport is located.
Yingluck, addressing the nation on television on a day anti-government protesters swarmed into, or around, state buildings in a bid to bring down her government, said the security act was being extended because of "ongoing events".
"To maintain the administration, to secure the government's access, to maintain peace and security for the people, to maintain law and order, the government has to impose a national security act in Bangkok, Nonthaburi, Samut Prakarn's Bangplee district and Prathumthani's Lad Lum Kaew district," said Yingluck.
Anti-government protesters forced their way inside Thailand's finance ministry and burst through the gates of the foreign ministry compound earlier on Monday, in an escalating bid to oust the government.
The seizing of government buildings by protesters, led by the opposition Democrat Party, plunges Thailand into its deepest political uncertainty since it was convulsed three years ago by the bloodiest political unrest in a generation.
The protesters accuse Yingluck of being a puppet for her brother, former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 military coup and convicted two years later of graft - charges he denies. Thaksin lives in self-imposed exile but exerts enormous influence over his sister's government.
Yingluck, 46, was defiant, saying she would not step down.
She said Thailand's Internal Security Act would be imposed in Samut Prakarn province, in which Bangkok's main airport is located, but that the government would not use force on protesters occupying government buildings.
"I have insisted that the government will not use violence against the people. We'll proceed according to the international standard," said Yingluck.
The Internal Security Act (ISA) allows troops to impose curfews, operate checkpoints, restrict movements of protesters.
By early evening the protesters had overrun the foreign ministry's compound.
"I have to pay a fine when I go through red traffic light, but she is the leader of this country and she doesn't respect the law, then why do we need to have laws at all?" said an anti-government protester Somchai Kaokam.
The protests were sparked last month by a government-backed amnesty bill that could have allowed Thaksin to return without facing jail time for a 2008 corruption sentence.
Although the bill has been dropped, the demonstrations have expanded into an all-out call for the ouster of Yingluck, who faces a no-confidence debate on Tuesday (November 26) that she'll likely pass easily given her Puea Thai Party's parliamentary majority.
She said the protests could hurt tourism and investor confidence and she would not dissolve parliament. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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