Bangkok (
AsiaNews / Agencies) - The Thai government has announced that tomorrow the
state of emergency imposed on January 22 to stop protests against the government
will be lifted. The
decision, which was approved this morning by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra,
was taken as the situation "has significantly improved". In
any case, it an Act for the internal security will be in force that still
allows the police to make summary arrests and searches without a warrant.
The
anti -government protests - a mix of members of the middle class, royalists and
the inhabitants of the south - are the biggest since 2010, when the kingdom was
shaken by a series of riots that ended in bloodshed and death 90 civilians.
According to sources in the Medical Department of Bangkok, the death toll since
the crisis is at least 23 dead and over 700 injured.
February 2, elections
were held - boycotted by the opposition Democratic Party - which
sanctioned the victory of Shinawatra's Pheu Thai Party. The
protesters accuse the prime minister of being "a puppet of her brother
Thaksin", who for years was the country's leader, beloved in the rural areas
but disliked by the middle class and the national bureaucracy.
Paradorn
Pattanathabutr , head of Homeland Security , confirmed the government's
decision: " We
have agreed to lift the state of emergency and use the Internal Security Act
(ISA) starting from tomorrow until 30 April as the number of protesters has
dwindled... and after pleas from the business community". The
police will still be able to impose a curfew, manage control points and
restrict the freedom of movement of the demonstrators.